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WILMINGTON, Del. — A group of SemGroup LP creditors on Wednesday raised the prospect that unauthorized energy trading may have caused the $3.2-billion (U.S.) loss that sank the 12th-biggest U.S. privately held company.
Eleven lenders that participated in a $141-million secured term loan objected to SemGroup's request for permission to access cash collateral to maintain normal business operations, warning in a brief filed with the court that any fraudulent trades made by SemGroup could affect their ability to recoup their losses.
A SemGroup spokesman said on Tuesday the company had not suspected any wrongdoing in the trading collapse but its attorneys acknowledged in court on Wednesday that the circumstances of the once high-flying energy trader's collapse are murky.
"Those trading losses are the source of the company's problems. We'll have answers in the course of the case, but the hows and whys are not entirely clear," said Martin Sosland, a lawyer for SemGroup, speaking during a hearing at the U.S. bankruptcy court in Wilmington, Delaware.
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SemGroup filed for bankruptcy on Tuesday after admitting $3.2-billion in trading losses on the New York Mercantile Exchange and over-the-counter energy derivative markets.
Included in SemGroup's losses was $290-million owed to the company to cover losses on the Nymex incurred by a trading company owned by SemGroup's co-founder and former chief executive officer, Thomas Kivisto.
Mr. Kivisto was placed on "administrative leave" shortly after SemGroup's Nymex account was transferred to Barclays PLC on July 16. The move of the account to Barclays forced SemGroup to recognize $2.4-billion in losses on its futures position.
Tulsa, Oklahoma-based SemGroup grew rapidly through dozens of acquisitions of oil storage and transportation facilities since 2000, becoming the 12th-biggest privately held company in the United States by 2007, according to Forbes.com.
SemGroup officials have said they plan to break up the company and sell off its assets quickly to repay creditors.
