Just under the wire, Gastar Exploration Inc. (NYSE: GST) said April 8 it has completed the sale of substantially all of its producing Appalachia assets, clearing some of its debt before the company’s borrowing base crumbled beneath it.

A delay in closing the divestiture put heavily levered Gastar under pressure as the company faced a 45% cut in its borrowing base originally set for April 10.

In order to obtain a required lessor consent, Gastar was forced to push back the closing of an $80 million deal. The hold-up left the company with “little room for error,” said Gordon Douthat, senior analyst at Wells Fargo Securities, in a March 30 report.

In connection with the sale, the company's borrowing base under its revolver was automatically reduced to $100 million from $180 million on April 8.

Gastar used proceeds from the sale to pay down the $180 million of outstanding borrowings on its revolver. As a result, the company has achieved compliance with the reduction of the base, the release said.

In February, Gastar entered into an agreement with an affiliate of investment firm Tug Hill Inc. for the sale of 11,000 net acres of Marcellus Shale and Utica/Point Pleasant properties.

The sale, which included proved reserves and a significant portion of its undeveloped acreage primarily in Marshall and Wetzel counties, W.Va., was initially expected to wrap up in the first quarter of 2016.

Now that the deal has closed, the Houston company, which has a field office in Oklahoma City, has emerged as the “only public ‘pure play’ company” focused on the Stack Play, according to J. Russell Porter, Gastar’s president and CEO.

"The closing of this transaction allows us to reduce our debt and exclusively focus our operations on the Midcontinent Stack Play, one of the most economic plays in the U.S.," Porter said in a statement.

Gastar’s exposure to the Stack Play is about 62,300 net acres in the Meramec Shale play and 48,900 net acres in the Woodford Shale play. The company also owns about 110,400 net acres in the Hunton Limestone Play, of which 45% is HBP.

RELATED: Gastar Faces Borrowing Base Blow Without Closing Door On Appalachia

As of March 9, the company’s cash balance was about $28.8 million, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The company has also agreed to an additional scheduled borrowing base redetermination in August, SEC filings said. This is in addition to its regular semiannual redetermination in November.

“We are highly leveraged and may not be able to generate sufficient cash or cash flows as applicable to service all of our indebtedness or to meet financial covenants under our debt agreements, and may be forced to take other actions to satisfy our obligations under such agreements, which may not be successful, or if successful, could be highly dilutive to existing holders of our common and preferred stock,” the company said in SEC filings.

Gastar isn't the only E&P that has found itself on thin ice since the plunge in commodity prices. Midstates Petroleum Co. (NYSE: MPO) said April 1 it will skip a $16 million interest payment on its debt.

The Tulsa, Okla.-based company chose to skip the payment after receiving notice of its scheduled borrowing base redetermination, which lowered the base by about 66% to $170 million. The company warned March 30 it might have to reorganize through bankruptcy.

RELATED: Midstates Petroleum Skips Debt Payment After Borrowing Base Wrecked

As of April 1, Midstates had $252 million in aggregate outstanding borrowings, putting the company in an $82 million deficiency.

Emily Moser can be reached at emoser@hartenergy.com.