What: Energy XXI Ltd.'s(NASDAQ: EXXI) stock took a 21.7% nosedive in June. The weight that continues to pull the stock down is the $4.5 billion in debt the oil-focused producer amassed before oil prices plunged. That debt is leaving the company little breathing room, despite its best efforts.
So what: Energy XXI spent most of the month working to give itself a bit more breathing room from its onerous debt load; it accomplished that via two notable moves. The first was a deal with its regulator regarding supplemental bonding requirements. Per the new agreement, the company will provide $150 million in supplemental bonding for its Gulf of Mexico assets, bringing its total supplemental bonding to $319 million. In agreeing to this amount the company avoided a worst-case scenario of $500 million in incremental bonding, which would have eaten even deeper into its liquidity.
The company also struck a sale-leaseback agreement for its Gulf of Mexico gathering system. The deal netted Energy XXI $245 million in cash, plus the buyer assumed asset retirement obligations of $12.5 million. Furthermore, Energy XXI will continue to operate the system under a long-term triple-net lease. So not only did the company cash in on the asset's value, but it still maintains control of this critical resource.
Now what: While Energy XXI bought itself time in June, it still has more than $4 billion in debt to maintain. Investors are growing increasingly concerned that the company might be unable to handle that debt load if oil prices don't meaningfully improve. This is why the stock took another nosedive in June.
