Energy Trader SemGroup goes Tits up

Energy trader SemGroup LP filed for bankruptcy on Tuesday after a failed oil hedging strategy left the fast-growing firm short of cash, its publicly traded unit SemGroup Energy Partners LP (SGLP.O: Quote, Profile, Research) said in a regulatory filing.

Tulsa, Oklahoma-based SemGroup, which billed itself as the 14th-largest privately held U.S. company, had sold short NYMEX crude oil futures as a hedge against a decline in value of the oil it purchased as part of its 500,000-barrel-per-day trading business.

The bankruptcy filing affects approximately $2.6 billion of debt issued by SemGroup and its units. SemGroup Energy Partners and its general partner are not part of the bankruptcy filing.

Two hedge funds took control of SemGroup Energy Partners LP's general partner last week under the terms of a loan they had made to SemGroup.

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SemGroup Energy Partners management said on a conference call it was confident the partnership could survive despite SemGroup's bankruptcy and would seek new business from third parties. The company's board of directors has also authorized management to consider a sale or merger with a competitor.

SemGroup Energy Partners warned that it was not ready to say whether it would make a cash distribution to unitholders in the second quarter, although management believes SemGroup will continue to use its fee-based assets to maintain operations while in bankruptcy.