September 1, 2020 - An investor in shares of Ultra Petroleum Corp (OTC: UPLCQ) filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado over alleged violations of Federal Securities Laws by Ultra Petroleum Corp in connection with certain allegedly false and misleading statements made between April 13, 2017 and August 8, 2019.

Englewood, CO based Ultra Petroleum Corp., an independent oil and gas company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, operation, and production of oil and natural gas properties.

In April 2017, Ultra Petroleum Corp. exited a court-supervised reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. According to Ultra Petroleum Corp., Ultra Petroleum exited the bankruptcy in “growth mode.” Ultra Petroleum Corp. 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. Ultra Petroleum Corp 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 Corp 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 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.

According to the complaint the plaintiff alleges on behalf of purchasers of Ultra Petroleum Corp (OTC: UPLCQ) common shares between April 13, 2017 and August 8, 2019, that the defendants violated Federal Securities Laws. More specifically, the plaintiff claims that between April 13, 2017 and August 8, 2019, the 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.