American Eagle Energy Corp., the Colorado oil producer that missed the first payment on $175 million of bonds it sold last year, has asked creditors to enter confidential debt-restructuring talks, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

The energy company is engaging its lenders six months after the August debt offering, before the price of the crude it produces more than halved. The producer discussed a potential bankruptcy filing as part of the restructuring plan, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified discussing the private conversations.

American Eagle, which hired restructuring advisers when it missed the $9.8 million interest payment earlier this month, is among energy companies now struggling to service $120 billion of high-yield, high-risk debt taken on during the past three years amid the U.S. shale boom. While some have managed to refinance borrowings as investors buy their debt cheaply, it’s coming at a steep price.

Marty Beskow, a spokesman at Littleton, Colorado-based American Eagle Energy, didn’t respond to telephone and e-mail messages seeking comment.

Since oil prices peaked in June, average borrowing costs for the riskiest companies have more than doubled, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Natural gas driller Quicksilver Resources Inc. and oil explorer BPZ Resources Inc. -- two energy companies that missed interest payments this year -- filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this month. Plunging crude prices have also sent offshore contractor Cal Dive International Inc. into bankruptcy court.

American Eagle Energy hired financial advisers Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. and Seaport Global Holdings LLC to help advise it on a debt restructuring when it failed to make its payment due March 2, people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg earlier this month. The company has a 30-day grace period before holders of its 11 percent notes could push for a default.

Scott Davidson, a spokesman for Canaccord, declined to comment. Tanya Alvear, a spokeswoman at Seaport Global, didn’t respond to messages seeking comment.

The company’s 11 percent notes due September 2019 have lost more than two-thirds of their value since they were issued, costing investors more than $117 million. The notes last traded March 18 at 32 cents on the dollar, according to Trace, the bond-price reporting system of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

American Eagle’s debt is 1.3 times higher than what its enterprise value suggests the company is worth, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. When it releases delayed 2014 financial performance information by the end of this month, American Eagle said it will write down assets by about $79.4 million because of falling energy prices, according to a March 16 regulatory filing.

The explorer’s wells are in Mountrail County near the Canadian border, where break-even was estimated at $41 a barrel by the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources in December.

The price for Bakken crude delivered at Clearbrook, Minnesota, was $41.69 a barrel as of 9:26 a.m. New York time today, down from $89.89 on Aug. 13, the day the company sold its bonds. The price fell to as low as $36.75 on March 18.