Banks Brace for Bigger Losses After Oil Drops Below $30
The Wall Street banks that financed the U.S. shale boom are facing growing losses as oil falls below $30 a barrel.
Losses are spreading from bondholders to banks amid the worst oil crash in a generation. Wells Fargo & Co., Citigroup Inc.and JPMorgan Chase & Co. have set aside more than $2 billion combined to cover souring energy loans and will add to that safety net if prices remain low, the companies reported this week. Losses are mounting as more oil and natural gas producers default on debt payments and declare bankruptcy. Wells Fargo lost $118 million on its energy portfolio in the fourth quarter and Citigroup lost $75 million.
“It takes time for losses to emerge, and at current levels we would expect to have higher oil and gas losses in 2016,” John Stumpf, Wells Fargo’s chairman and chief executive officer, said during a Friday earnings call.
Oil plunged 36 percent in the past year, putting an end to the debt-fueled drilling spree that pushed U.S. oil production to the highest in more than 40 years. After years of spending more than they made, shale companies have parked drilling rigs and fired thousands of workers in an effort to conserve cash. In 2015, 42 oil and and gas producers went bust owing more than $17 billion, according to law firm Haynes & Boone LLP.
Growing Losses
The weakness in oil and gas lending was a hot topic during bank earnings calls this week, and it’s clear that the potential for losses is snowballing the longer prices remain low. Wells Fargo’s energy reserves of $1.2 billion are enough to cover 7 percent of the $17 billion of the bank’s outstanding oil and gas loans.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-15/banks-brace-for-bigger-losses-as-oil-drops-below-30-a-barrel
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