Suzzanne Uhland draws on extensive professional experience in bankruptcy, insolvency, and restructuring litigation in her work as a partner at O’Melveny & Myers LLP in San Francisco and Newport Beach. As the chair of the firm’s U.S. restructuring practice, Suzzanne Uhland often represents clients in distress transactions, reorganizations, out-of-court restructuring efforts, and bankruptcy proceedings.

In the United States, the price of crude oil has recently plummeted to its lowest point in five years.

While this change has been widely welcomed by consumers, it represents a host of difficulties for oil exploration and production (E&P) firms and service companies, many of which may soon be at risk of bankruptcy due to declining cash flow. WBH Energy filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in early January 2015, becoming the first E&P firm to do so in 2015.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration has projected that oil prices will continue to drop throughout the year, and market speculators predict that WBH Energy is only the first of several crude oil E&P and services firms to file for chapter 11 in 2015. Declining oil prices have also resulted in high options market uncertainty, as indicated by the current values of oil future and options contracts.

These market developments may require

crude oil companies to consider

defensive operations such as

restructuring, while others may move

offensively to gain an advantage during

this uncertain period.