Sabine Oil & Gas Corp won an important court ruling on Tuesday that will allow the bankrupt energy producer to shed certain pipeline contracts, potentially exposing companies that transport and process gas to the crisis in the energy industry. The ruling by New York’s influential bankruptcy court is the first major test of whether Chapter 11 can be used to end a contract with companies in what is known as the midstream sector of the energy industry. “The debtors have satisfied the standard for the rejection of the contracts,” said Judge Shelley Chapman in Manhattan, who read the opinion from the bench. Her decision can be appealed and is not binding. But it may encourage other struggling producers to follow suit at a time when scores of oil and gas companies are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. Shares of major pipeline operators fell on the ruling, with the Dow Jones index of pipeline operators ending down more than 5 percent.