SOLIC now has its eye on oilfields services companies with high debt and poor capital structures.  The large oilfield companies are likely to scoop up weaker middle-market players, Koutsonicolis said. They will be on the hunt for firms with overlapping regional operations and back-office functions, two factors that will immediately add to earnings.  The fate of those firms is tied in part to exploration and production companies, for whom they provide infrastructure, specialized equipment, transportation and other services. Cost-cutting and reductions in revenue-generating activities among E&P companies eventually bleed into the oilfields services sector, forcing them to take similar measures.  Read MoreUS gas at six-year low, bottom in sight: Survey  Capital investment in the energy industry has decreased by about 23 percent, according to SOLIC.  Exploration and production companies have largely funded growth by borrowing on the high-yield debt market. The energy sector accounts for 17.4 percent of the high-yield bond market, up from 12 percent in 2002, according to Citi Research.  Now, the value of E&P firms' primary asset is depleting, so banks are willing to lend them less money, and liquidity is drying up.  Read More'Small oil' could end up with a big debt problem  "Given the situation we're in, the access to that high-yield debt will be somewhat impeded for some players," Koutsonicolis said. "It's kind of a death spiral for some of these firms."  Exploration and production companies will typically restructure as a last resort, said John-Paul Hanson, head of Houlihan Lokey's exploration and production practice. Instead, he told CNBC, they will try to weather the low commodity price market through financing and mergers and acquisitions activity.
An oncoming wave of oil industry job cuts and restructuring is only the first inning of a long game, experts tell CNBC.