U.S. oil prices at below $50 and now even below $45 a barrel could cause concerns about the debt levels of some energy companies, Nasdaq energy analyst Tamar Essner told CNBC on Wednesday. “Credit markets have held up a lot better than the energy equity markets right now, so that tells you that credit investors out there believe in the oil story much more so than energy equity investors do right now,” Essner said. Consumers in the U.S. like the low gasoline prices that come with lower oil prices, but a slide in the price of oil has a broader impact on the economy, Essner said. Some of the newer U.S. shale producers are probably deep into cash-flow negative at the current oil prices of $43 a barrel WTI Crude , although the energy industry as a whole is “in a lot stronger position” today than it was in […]