Could falling oil prices spark a financial crisis?

THE oil and gas boom in the United States was made possible by the extensive credit afforded to drillers. Not only has financing come from company shareholders and traditional banks, but hundreds of billions of dollars have also come from junk-bond investors looking for high returns.

Junk-bond debt in energy has reached US$210 billion, which is about 16 per cent of the US$1.3 trillion junk-bond market. That is a dramatic rise from just 4 per cent that energy debt represented 10 years ago.

As is the nature of the junk-bond market, lots of money flowed to companies with much riskier drilling prospects than, say, the oil majors. Maybe drillers were venturing into an uncertain shale play; maybe they didn't have a lot of cash on hand or were a small startup. Whatever the case may be, there is a reason that they couldn't offer "investment grade" bonds. In order to tap the bond market, these companies had to pay a hefty interest rate.