According to Sprott Global Resource Investments, weak revenues in the shale sector could put debt-laden companies at risk.
And while many of those companies still own assets, their cash flows have dropped off and they could start selling those assets to cover their debts.
Enter the companies with stronger balance sheets who want to get into the North American shale sector: oil giants such as ExxonMobil or Chevron who so far only have relatively small exposures to shale oil.
What they do have is the cash to enter the Bakken, the Permian Basin, or the Eagle Ford and acquire properties, especially if fire-sale prices start popping up.
In the case of Exxon especially, its revenues are less sensitive to the price of oil as its downstream divisions include marketing, distribution and refining that can actually benefit from price plunges.
Some of the small oil players have put up hedges to protect themselves but that is not likely to be a long-term safeguard.
They have hedged their production for 2015 - meaning they are making $US70-100/bbl while the world struggles under $50-60/bbl.
Prominent Wall Street analyst Frank Curzio warned against putting faith in such hedges as they were typically 12-month contracts, which meant that protection would cease by the end of this year.
He also warned that analysts were presenting some companies as "cheap" without regard for the inherent expiration date on the hedges buoying their cash flows.
"When those hedges come off, they're going to be selling their oil for a lot less," he said.
Yet these same experts did not seem to pick the oil price going down to $40/bbl when it was at $90/bbl, and the market still gets put into a frenzy whenever anyone suggests it could go above $100 again.
"I wrote an interesting article … saying production cuts could lead to $100 oil prices," Curzio said.
"Exxon e-mailed me, and other guys from all over the place. Hundreds of e-mails have come in to say, ‘Frank, I agree with you … oil is going to $100'. This makes me think one thing - oil is probably going lower."
Curzio cautioned against investing in companies that might look solid based on present revenues.
"Most of these shale producers can't really produce oil right now and make money on it," he said.
"It's kind of a mirage [because of hedges]. Just be careful buying oil companies."
Sprott Global Resource Investment's take on this advice from Curzio was to be cautious.
It said low revenues and high debts could force some shale players to sell off assets at discounted prices to more robust oil majors.
