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Plunging prices could force a third of U.S. oil firms into bankruptcy
Crude-oil prices plunged more than 5% on Monday to trade near $30 a barrel, making the specter of bankruptcy ever more likely for a significant chunk of the U.S. oil industry. Three major investment banks — Morgan Stanley MS, +0.28% , Goldman Sachs Group Inc. GS, +1.09% and Citigroup Inc. C, +1.56% — now expect the price of oil to crash through the $30 threshold and into $20 territory in short order as a result of China’s slowdown, the U.S. dollar’s appreciation and the fact that drillers from Houston to Riyadh won’t quit pumping despite the oil glut. As many as a third of American oil-and-gas producers ... (full story)