SYDNEY, May 14 (Reuters) - Singapore-listed oil and gas company Linc Energy Ltd LINC.SI owes creditors A$289.4 million ($210.28 million) and should be wound up, according to its administrators.
The company entered into voluntary administration a month ago, suffering from debt woes amid a slump in energy prices. PPB Advisory released a report on Friday recommending the company be liquidated.
"We recommend that it is in the creditors' interests that the company be wound up," the report said.
Linc Energy's businesses included oil and gas operations in the United States as well as exploration for shale oil and gas in south Australia.
In March, Linc was charged in the Australian state of Queensland with causing serious environmental harm following an investigation into a gas leak at one of its plants, after four employees fell ill with suspected gas poisoning. company's administrators cited falling commodity prices and an inability to raise capital after the Queensland legal action as reasons for Linc's troubles.
While oil prices have recovered somewhat this year, benchmark Brent futures LCOc1 are still down more than 60 percent from peaks hit in mid-2014.
A string of Australia resource and materials companies, have recently entered into voluntary administration, stung by a ramp-up in output just as China's economy started to slow and commodity prices plunged. in Linc had been suspended since end-March. The shares, which have a market value of $11.6 million, had fallen about 85 percent so far this year.
The company, which shifted its listing to Singapore from Australia in end-2013, had cash and equivalents of A$4.7 million ($3.6 million) at the end of last year, while its borrowings stood at A$726.4 million, slightly higher than its total assets. ($1 = 1.3763 Australian dollars)