Hercules Offshore Inc. may become the first big energy-sector business to exit bankruptcy since the crude slump triggered insolvencies among oil and gas drillers and the companies that serve them.
Hercules, the owner of the largest fleet of shallow-water drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, won court approval of its reorganization plan Thursday, less than two months after it filed Chapter 11 to implement a deal with creditors.
The Houston-based company should complete all the paperwork necessary to officially exit bankruptcy by the end of October,Emanuel Grillo, an attorney for Hercules, said in an interview.
“Hercules has the benefit of being one of the first in and, hopefully, the first out,” Grillo, a partner at Baker Botts LLP, said Thursday in bankruptcy court in Wilmington, Delaware.
Hercules, formed in 2004 as a small gulf driller, has a fleet of 27 jack-up rigs and 19 lift boats, according to its website. With oil prices down by more than half since June 2014, demand for both U.S. and international business has flagged, making it harder for oilfield servicers to meet debt obligations.
Brazil Energy Insight 
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