Quicksilver Resources filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday.

In regulatory filings, the energy company said it had $2.35 billion in debt and $1.2 billion in assets. Management said it would face a "potential liquidity shortfall" in the first quarter of 2016, for reasons including its mountain of debt and the oil crash, according to a regulatory filing.

"Quicksilver's strategic marketing process has not produced viable options for asset sales or other alternatives to fully address the company's liquidity and capital structure issues," CEO Glenn Darden said in a statement. "We believe that Chapter 11 provides the flexibility to accomplish an effective restructuring of Quicksilver for its stakeholders."

The oil and gas company based in Texas does not expect its US or Canada operations to stop, Darden said.

The company's problems started even before oil prices began to slide last year. Last September, the company tried to sell off all its assets, but it was unable to find any buyers by December, when bids were due, it said. Moody's cut its debt rating to junk.

And back in 2011, it abandoned a bid to be acquired by private investors and raise money to pay its debt, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Unlike Chapter 7 bankruptcy, in which a company must immediately sell all its assets to pay creditors, a Chapter 11 filing gives Quicksilver the chance to restructure its debt.

Quicksilver shares plummeted nearly 43% on Wednesday to less than 3 cents a share.



