Texas-based Gavilan Resources last month filed for Chapter 11 protection, saying it intends to sell its business and assets.
It cited the coronavirus pandemic and the oil price rout along with an ongoing dispute with a joint venture partner in the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas, Kallanish Energy reports.
It is among 19 new bankruptcies filed in 2020 through May 31 by U.S. energy companies, according to a list maintained by the Haynes and Boone law firm.
The firm with headquarters in Dallas, Texas, said the 19 filings reflected a total debt of $13.1 billion.
Other firms filing for federal protection include Whiting Petroleum, Echo Energy Partners, Ultra Petroleum, Skylar Exploration, Diamond Offshore, Freedom Oil and Gas, and Templar Energy.
There were 51 bankruptcy filings from Jan. 1 through May 31 in 2016; 14 in 2017, 18 in 2018, and 18 in 2019, the law firm said in its Oil Patch Bankruptcy Monitor.
Overall, there are about 225 bankruptcy cases across the country pending in federal bankruptcy courts, as of May 31, it said.
There have been predictions that a wave of Chapter 11 filings is coming and that more than 100 U.S. energy companies may be forced to declare bankruptcy this year after the coronavirus pandemic and the oil price rout.
According to Haynes and Boone, there have been 13 bankruptcies by oilfield service companies in 2020, through May 31.
Those filings had a total debt of $11.6 billion, it said.
That compares to 28 bankruptcies from Jan. 1 through May 31 in 2017, eight in 2018 and four in 2019, the law firm said in a separate listing of wellfield service companies.