As veteran readers of Oil & Energy Investor are aware, each year in early March I provide one of the private briefings at this event to a select international audience of energy figures, ambassadors, ministers, and high commissioners assembled at the castle.

The briefings are conducted under royal charter provided by the queen, with the British royal family in residence at Windsor Castle when the briefings occur. That Marina and I get to stay at the castle for three days is an extra perk.

Now, the meeting is conducted under Chatham House rules. That means no one in attendance can ascribe any particular position to any named individual. These rules are designed to allow for open and frank conversations.

Still, I’ll have much to say, right here in Oil & Energy Investor, on what transpires there when we return next week. Stay tuned.

But there’s something I won’t be telling them at the Windsor meeting. It’s the “other shoe” dropping for oil…

And it’s going to affect each and every one of us…

Oil and Gas Company Bankruptcies Are On the Rise

This ripple effect will extend to much more than just oil and gas. And it looms as an ongoing concern, one that is likely to have a longer-lasting effect than the price of oil itself – unless, that is, there is a reversal of trajectory.

Crude oil prices took a rest yesterday after spiking up 13.9% over the six preceding trading sessions. Of course, having started from $29.04 a barrel for WTI (West Texas Intermediate, the NYMEX trading price set daily at Cushing, OK), the new level remains well below the level necessary for any appreciable increase in survivability for operating companies in the U.S.

On the natural gas side, things are far worse.

Here, prices have fallen appreciably. The Henry Hub price (the location in Louisiana where NYMEX daily rates are calculated) closed yesterday at $1.71 per 1,000 cubic feet (or million BTUs), matching the low hit last Thursday and the lowest price in almost a decade.