Black Elk Energy Offshore Operations, LLC has retained Blackhill Partners, an investment bank and restructuring firm specializing in complex situations, as restructuring advisor to guide the company through its Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Black Elk Energy is an independent oil and gas company headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company operates and holds interests in properties offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, located within Louisiana and Texas State and Federal waters in depths ranging from ten feet up to 3,700 feet.

Blackhill Partners' managing director Jeff Jones is leading the engagement. Jones has more than 25 years' experience as a restructuring advisor and investment banker, with particular expertise in energy restructuring and special situations mergers and acquisitions.

"Blackhill Partners' long history of serving energy companies in difficult situations allows us to provide the leadership required in this highly complex bankruptcy," said Jones.

Blackhill's Energy Restructuring Team, which for Black Elk includes Eric Hyman, Lance Gurley, Todd Heinz and Tripp Ballard in addition to Jones, will draw on its expertise in onshore and offshore energy restructurings to maximize recoveries for creditors.

Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Blackhill Partners, LLC is an investment bank and restructuring firm specializing in complex situations. Blackhill's professionals have advised Fortune 500 and middle-market companies on over $100 billion in mergers, acquisitions, financings and restructurings across a broad range of industries, with particular depth in energy and industrial businesses.