Whiting Petroleum Corp filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the U.S. shale producer said on Wednesday, the first publicly traded casualty of crashing crude oil prices that are expected to bite into record U.S. output. Whiting, once the largest oil producer in North Dakota’s Bakken region, said its creditors have agreed to cut its debt by about $2.2 billion through an exchange of some of its notes for 97% of new equity. Existing shareholders will own 3% of the reorganized company. Many shale oil and gas producers are faced with burdensome debt loads and have cut spending aggressively as oil prices have plunged by about two-thirds this year. The coronavirus pandemic is slamming fuel demand, while Russia and Saudi Arabia are boosting supply in a fight for a shrinking market. A U.S. drilling boom over the last three years lifted national oil production to a record of roughly […]