Share sales by US oil and gas companies have slowed sharply in recent months, in a sign of the tightening financial pressures on the industry following the fall in crude prices, writes Ed Crooks.
US exploration and production companies raised a record total of $10.8bn from issuing new equity in the first quarter of 2015, according to Dealogic, but that has fallen to $3.7bn in the second quarter, which ends tomorrow.
The reduced availability of equity finance for the small and midsized companies that led the US shale revolution is forcing more of them to look at selling assets to remain solvent. Corporate bankruptcies and takeovers in the industry are also expected to increase.