NEW YORK, Sept. 02, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C., a nationally recognized shareholder rights law firm, announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado on behalf of investors that purchased Ultra Petroleum Corp. (Other OTC: UPLCQ, NASDAQ: UPL) common stock between April 3, 2017 and August 8, 2019 (the “Class Period”). Investors have until November 2, 2020 to apply to the Court to be appointed as lead plaintiff in the lawsuit.
Click here to participate in the action.
Ultra Petroleum is an oil and gas development company with primary assets in the Pinedale and Jonah fields of the Green River Basin of southwest Wyoming. Over 80% of the Company’s revenues have historically been derived from the development and sale of natural gas.
On May 14, 2020, Ultra Petroleum filed for bankruptcy protection and is not named as a defendant in the action.
In April 2017, at the beginning of the Class Period, Ultra Petroleum exited a court-supervised reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. According to defendants, Ultra Petroleum exited the bankruptcy in “growth mode.” Defendants stated that the Company was poised to maximize the value of its substantial oil and gas deposits (which they valued at $4.19 billion, including $1.5 billion of proved undeveloped reserves) through ramped up production in 2017 and 2018 and that Ultra Petroleum was on track to produce between 290 and 300 billion cubic feet equivalent (“Bcfe”) in 2017, with 25% production growth over these figures in 2018. Defendants represented that the Company had the financial and production flexibility to weather even a low-commodity-price environment and was set to ramp up well development with 10 rigs operating by 2018 on the back of an estimated $788 million capital budget. Accretive to this plan was the launch of a horizontal well drilling program, which Ultra Petroleum executives claimed was set to significantly expand the production capabilities of the Company’s existing wells.
Then, beginning in August 2017, soon after exiting bankruptcy, Ultra Petroleum began issuing a series of revelations demonstrating that it could not grow production by any meaningful amount and that its wells were worth a fraction of the values previously represented. Finally, on August 9, 2019, Ultra Petroleum announced disappointing results for the second quarter of 2019, disclosing that total revenues for the quarter had decreased 18%, that the Company’s horizontal well program had been effectively halted, and that it was lowering its 2019 projected capital investments to a range of $260 million to $290 million and annual production to a range of 238 to 244 Bcfe.
On this news, the price of Ultra Petroleum stock declined 31% to just $0.09 per share and continued to fall to just $0.01 per share, 99% below the stock’s Class Period high. On August 22, 2019, Ultra Petroleum stock was delisted. And in May 2020, the Company was forced to enter bankruptcy proceedings yet again in order to seek a court-ordered reorganization.
The complaint, filed on September 1, 2020, alleges that these and similar statements issued by defendants during the Class Period were materially false and misleading when made. Throughout the Class Period, defendants, inter alia: (i) materially overstated the value of Ultra Petroleum’s oil and gas reserves; (ii) materially misrepresented the Company’s ability to ramp up production and its financial flexibility; (iii) failed to disclose the Company’s extreme sensitivity to even a modest decline in natural gas prices; and (iv) concealed significant setbacks in the Company’s vaunted horizontal well drilling program.
If you purchased Ultra Petroleum common stock during the Class Period and suffered a loss, have information, would like to learn more about these claims, or have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Melissa Fortunato, Marion Passmore, or Brandon Walker by email at investigations@bespc.com, telephone at (212) 355-4648, or by filling out this contact form. There is no cost or obligation to you.
About Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C.:
Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C. is a nationally recognized law firm with offices in New York and California. The firm represents individual and institutional investors in commercial, securities, derivative, and other complex litigation in state and federal courts across the country. For more information about the firm, please visit www.bespc.com. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
Contact Information:
Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C.
Brandon Walker, Esq.
Melissa Fortunato, Esq.
Marion Passmore, Esq.
(212) 355-4648
investigations@bespc.com
www.bespc.com