A Wave of Downgrades for Big Oil's Credit

Amid falling oil prices, Moody's hit ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) with a credit rating downgrade on April 2, 2020, downgrading Exxon's credit one notch from "Aaa" to "Aa1." That might not seem like much, but even a single tick down in a credit rating can add millions of dollars in debt burden to a company's balance sheet. Of the hundreds of energy companies in the industry, let's see how many are getting hit with credit ratings downgrades -- and what that might mean for their futures in an already tough market.

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Just like individuals, companies have credit ratings that are considered when it comes time to take on debt either as a bank loan, or as a bigger bond offering. The credit ratings are provided by several companies, but the largest of them are Moody's (NYSE: MCO), S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI), and privately held Fitch Ratings.