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The company may need to set aside funds for a US$16.7 million note maturing in November, apart from as much as US$110 million maturing next April, according Raymond James analyst Andrew Bradford, although lenders are expected to provide debt relief.

“Lenders would be far better off to amend covenants and work with operators through the downturn if for no other reason than equipment liquidated through a receiver could effectively go ‘no-bid’ in today’s market,” Bradford said in a note.

Much-needed cash may be generated with the sale of its Russian and Kazakhstan pressure pumping business, which analysts said could fetch between $50 million and $200 million. The company would not divulge details on the unsolicited offer, nor a timeline of when a possible deal could be concluded.

“We believe the most likely buyer is Rosneft and Trican is likely to realize cash proceeds of $175 million-$200 million in the context of the current market,” CIBC’s Morrison said, based on the assumption that 85 per cent of the $242 million generated from Trican’s international business is estimated to be from the region.

Industry indicators suggest more pain is on the way for oilfield services companies.

“The full impact of throttled back E&P spending was felt in April, with wells drilled and completions down 62 per cent and 74 per cent year-on-year, respectively,” said Dan MacDonald, analyst at RBC Dominion Securities Inc.

Well completions were down 74 per cent in April year-on-year, fracturing-intensive gas well completion activity was down 51 per cent versus last year, and oil well completions were down 80 percent.

Trican peer Ensign Energy Services Inc. recently described the upcoming summer in Canada as “very tough” and said it expects to use only a fourth of its equipment.

Meanwhile, Precision Drilling Corp. has negotiated relief for the two principal covenants of its revolving credit facility.

“We are entering a cyclical downturn that will parallel 2009 and in some cases, will be worse than 2009,” Morrison said. “First quarter was the start and Q2 will be much worse while Q3 and Q4 will be depend on commodity prices getting better.”