Energy companies in the Arab countries in the Persian Gulf may resume issuing more debt and borrowing more money for expansion plans after oil prices plunged by 40 percent from the four-year highs that hit just three months ago. The oil and gas firms in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) had issued record debt in 2017 to finance expansion plans, but the rise in oil prices in 2018 eased the gaps in the Gulf Arab countries’ budgets, and total energy company bond issues and loans in the region declined this year compared to 2017. Yet, as oil prices crumbled in the past two months of 2018, energy firms in the Gulf may have to rely on more debt in 2019 to fund plans to boost production and maintain reserves, according to analysts who spoke to Bloomberg. “Companies will look to issue more debt,” Ashley Kelty, an oil and gas […]