Bakken Resources Inc.

December 7, 2018

Publicly-traded oil and gas company, Bakken Resources Inc. ($BKKN), filed for bankruptcy on Friday in the District of Nevada. The company focuses its activities in the Williston Basin in western North Dakota with a focus on acquiring mineral leases and non-operating oil mineral interests and then leasing their acreage to ten oil drilling operators.

Without getting into the weeds here, it seems pretty clear from the bankruptcy papers that the company required a little more focus on its royalty income payments: it suffers from all kinds of reconciliation issues with its partner operators as well as its “overriding royalty” holder, Holms Energy. It’s also getting sued up the wazoo. So, that’s a bit of a drain. As well as a hindrance to the company in terms of raising capital — $8-10mm of which is desperately needed to acquire new producing mineral rights. The company has no secured debt and less than a million of unsecured debt which begs a super serious question: how the hell did it hire Lowenstein Sandler LLP and AlixPartners LLP? Where’s THAT money coming from?

The company notes:

The commencement of this Chapter 11 Case is the product of a confluence of factors that continue to erode the Company’s liquidity and substantially impede the Company’s ability to raise necessary capital. The Company’s cash position deteriorated significantly in 2018 due to a precipitous drop in oil prices and continued litigation expenses. Since October 2018, oil prices have fallen by 28% which has drastically impacted the Company’s net royalty revenues, as has a decline in production from the Company’s current wells. The Company’s monthly net royalty revenues are projected to decline from $ 142,000 in April 2018 to approximately $ 70,000 in April 2019. This decline combined with legal expenses of approximately $ 2,300,000 to date in 2018 has forced the Company to consume more than $ 2 million in cash this year. The Company projects that it will exhaust an additional $ 1.3 million through June 2019 absent a bankruptcy filing.

Remember: the President of the United States WANTS low oil prices. But we digress.

AlixPartners is charged with selling the company as a going concern, raising capital, or selling discrete assets or operations. Which, we’d be remiss not to note, isn’t Alix’s typical kind of retention. We just hope they disclosed any and all potential conflicts.

• Jurisdiction: D. of Nevada (Judge Beesley)   

• Company Professionals:

  • Legal: Lowenstein Sandler LLP (Jeffrey Cohen, Gabriel Olivera) & (local) Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP (Samuel Schwartz, Connor Shea)

  • Financial Advisor: AlixPartners LLP (Richard Robbins)

  • Claims Agent: Omni Management (*click on company name above for free docket access)