Since the start of the year, 57 oil production and oilfield services companies have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Many more bankruptcies are on the way, all in the shale patch. And there does not seem to be even a shred of light at the end of this tunnel. The U.S. shale patch was the pride and joy of the nation’s energy industry. Rightly called a shale revolution , the boom in oil and gas production fueled by hydraulic fracturing turned the United States into the world’s largest oil and gas producer. But this had a cost—a cost that is now being paid with a flurry of bankruptcies. Rystad Energy said last month it expected another 150 U.S. shale oil companies would file for Chapter 11 protection by the end of the year unless prices rise above $50 a barrel. Others have suggested we might see consolidation, the […]