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Carriers owed hundreds of thousands after oil and gas company bankruptcy filing

Several carriers listed as major unsecured creditors

Truckers owed hundreds of thousands of dollars after Bainbridge Uinta files for bankruptcy. Photo: Shutterstock

Several trucking companies are collectively owed hundreds of thousands of dollars after a Texas-based oil and gas company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this week.

Bainbridge Uinta Holding and its subsidiary, Bainbridge Uinta, an oil and gas exploration and production company, filed its petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas on Tuesday.

Although incorporated in Texas, the oil and gas company operates in the Uinta Basin in Northeast Utah.

In its filing, Bainbridge Uinta lists both its assets and liabilities as between $50 million and $100 million. It states it has up to 999 creditors.


Among the oil and gas company’s top 20 unsecured creditors  — which are last in line for payment in Chapter 11 cases — is Rhett’s Trucking. The carrier, headquartered in Vernal, Utah, has 39 trucks and is owed nearly $176,000.

Oilfield equipment hauler Ponderosa Oilfield Service Inc., also headquartered in Vernal, is owed more than $65,000. The intrastate carrier has 16 power units and 20 drivers.

Houston-based National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV) Inc. (NYSE: NOV), a worldwide provider of equipment and components used in oil and gas drilling and production operations, is owed around $46,500. NOV has 222 power units and 152 drivers, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) SAFER website.

Bainbridge Uinta also owes nearly $771,000 in back taxes to Uintah County, according to the county’s delinquent tax list, published in late 2019. The Utah county is listed as a creditor in the company’s bankruptcy filing.


Paul Ching, chief executive officer of Bainbridge Uinta, did not return FreightWaves’ telephone call seeking comment. 

Double whammy

An oil glut and slumping sales amid the COVID-19 pandemic have forced several oil and gas companies to file for bankruptcy protection in recent months. 

A price war between OPEC and Russia, which caused oil prices to tank, forced several trucking companies that haul oilfield equipment and supplies to the oil patch to file for bankruptcy protection.

Read more articles by FreightWaves’ Clarissa Hawes.

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Clarissa Hawes

Clarissa has covered all aspects of the trucking industry for 16 years. She is an award-winning journalist known for her investigative and business reporting. Before joining FreightWaves, she wrote for Land Line Magazine and Trucks.com. If you have a news tip or story idea, send her an email to [email protected].