The recent plunge in oil prices has put the financially ravaged U.S. shale industry in the spotlight over the past week, but the market downturn will blow a hole in the budgets of oil-producing countries as well. At the company level, the pressure is rapidly mounting. Spending cuts have been immediate, but the credit quality of the oil and gas industry is straining. S&P said that it was reviewing credit ratings of the energy sector. “We are not going to be as patient as we were before,” said Michael Grande, a senior director at S&P Global, according to the FT , referring to the last downturn five years ago. S&P suggested that Devon Energy and Hess Corp., for example, could lose investment-grade status. Meanwhile, roughly $110 billion in energy debt sold by U.S. companies has slipped into distressed territory. Junk energy debt could receive “multiple notch downgrades,” Thomas Watters, […]