Oil companies of all hues loaded up on massive amounts of debt to fund rigs and fancy new drilling equipment. The problem is the companies were banking on oil prices closer to $100 oil when they took on the debt. Now oil is around $45 and no one is expecting prices to hit $100 any time soon. What that means is the likelihood of unpaid debt has gone up for many companies. “Energy has been really treacherous. There are going to be a lot of defaults,” R. Matthew Freund, chief investment officer of USAA Investments, told CNNMoney. It’s a dramatic change from just a few years ago. The roaring junk bond market and low interest rates broadly helped fuel the U.S. energy boom. Cheap credit allowed companies to invest in new technologies like hydraulic fracking that makes it easier to drill oil in difficult to reach places. Back then […]