Independent exploration and production (E&P) limited partnership Hilcorp Energy I L.P. recently announced a $300 million offering of senior unsecured notes due 2021. Hilcorp plans to use funds from the offering to pay for an acquisition of certain producing and nonproducing properties and for general corporate purposes. Based on a partnership-provided midyear PV report using our distressed-level price assumptions of $45 per barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude oil and $4 per million Btu of Henry Hub natural gas, we are assigning an issue-level rating of 'BB-' (the same as the corporate credit rating) and a recovery rating of '3', indicating our expectation of meaningful (50% to 70%) recovery in the event of a payment default. We have also affirmed
