Beijing, 23 (Xinhua) according to a report released by US law firm Haynes and Boone on Wednesday, the number of oil and gas companies filing for bankruptcy in the United States and Canada surged 50 percent in 2019 compared with 2018, and this number is likely to continue to grow as energy prices continue to fall.

A total of 42 oil and gas exploration and production companies in the US and Canada went bankrupt in 2019, up 50 per cent from 28 in 2018, the report said.

Between 2015 and 2019, a total of 208 oil and gas companies in the United States and Canada filed for bankruptcy.

"this year-on-year increase shows that the repercussions of the collapse in oil prices in 2015 will continue to be felt in the industry, at least in the first half of 2020," Haynes and Boone said in the report.

Buddy Clark, a partner at Haynes and Boone, said the impact of new oil and gas production in the US was being felt globally. "that's why you can bomb a major oil facility in Saudi Arabia, kill an Iranian general, or shut down all oil production in Libya without fluctuating oil prices," he said. "