Law360, New York ( December 8, 2014, 11:32 AM EST) -- The mainstream media have been trying to predict, on almost a daily basis, the causes of, and the winners and losers (mostly focused on the latter category) resulting from, the current volatility in oil and gas prices. Regardless of the cause, as of the end of November 2014, the American price for crude oil fell to $66.15, its lowest price in the past four years, and the Brent price for oil fell to $70.15.[1] Industry insiders believe that a sustained drop below $75 a barrel could force some energy companies to sell assets at depressed prices.[2] As is the case with most industries, depressed prices are likely to bring both new opportunities and new challenges to energy sector investors. We can comfortably conclude that a prolonged decrease in prices will create opportunities in the oilfield services and upstream sectors for distressed M&A and special situation financings, such as royalty transactions and rescue financings....