Research On The Debt Structure Of American Shale Gas Companies From The Perspective Of Enterprise Growth

The shale gas production in the United States has increased year by year,synchronized with a rapid growth in the liabilities of shale gas companies.Since oil price fell in 2014,a large number of shale gas producers has gone bankruptcy because of insolvency,thus leverage has shown the side effect of the "double-edged sword." What is the specific debt structure of shale gas companies? What factors contributed to this debt structure? This paper focuses on these two issues and analyzes the debt dilemma faced by shale enterprises from the perspective of debt structure.Through statistical analysis and regression analysis,this paper studies the overall debt level and debt structure of typical US listed shale gas companies,and then it tests the influences of macro-economic factors and micro-enterprise growth factors on the debt structure.The study found that: from 1998 to 2017,the total liabilities of US shale gas listed companies showed an overall upward trend and peaked in 2014.The average asset–liability ratio ranged from 50% to 60% from 1998 to 2011,fluctuated within 65% to 75% from 2012 to 2017,and peaked at 75% in 2016.As for the maturities,the debt for more than six years and debt matured within six years account for about 50% respectively.Among the liabilities due within five years,the shale gas companies prefer current liabilities due within one year and medium-term liabilities due within four years.As for the macro–impact factors: first of all,the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act(JOBS)of 2012 provided shale enterprises with loan facilities,which significantly increased the total debt and corporate asset-liability ratio.Secondly,both low interest rates and low tax rates significantly increased the asset-liability ratio and long-term debt ratio of shale gas enterprises;Finally,low crude oil price is another driving factor for high leverage ratio and long-term debt ratio.In terms of micro-influence factors: first of all,the higher the growth of the enterprise,the easier it is to obtain short-term loans,which is significantly negatively correlated with the proportion of long-term liabilities.Secondly,due to the consideration of tradeoff between asset types and liability maturities,there is a significant positive correlation between the proportion of long-term liabilities and total fixed assets;in the end,the company's expansion of scale and decline in profitability will promote the simultaneous growth of total debt and long-term debt.