A top financial ratings service has listed western Wyoming gas drillers Ultra Resources and Jonah Energy among issuers of “top bonds of concern” whose securities could face “imminent” default.
Fitch Ratings named the two companies that operate in the Pinedale Anticline, Jonah Field and Normally Pressured Lance, or NPL Field in an April 13 report detailing broader energy industry woes. Together the companies provide hundreds of jobs and generate hundreds of million of dollars in tax revenues from Sublette County operations annually. The energy sector is among those that are expected to drive the high-yield bond default rate past 4%, Fitch reported.