Analysis

  • M&A Value Hits Record Low In First Half Of 2020

    In the first half of 2020, the total enterprise value of merger and acquisition (“M&A”) activity in the Canadian oil and natural gas industry plummeted 86 per cent to $748.7 million from $5.3 billion recorded in the first half of 2019.

    October 28, 2020, 6 AM MDT

  • Lauerman: Feds Must Invest Big In Alberta’s Clean Energy Future

    Only rarely do I read an article and think to myself, damn, I wish I wrote that. But, in late September, Eric Reguly, a business and economics columnist for The Globe and Mail, wrote an article entitled “Canada needs a new breed of corporate champion, and clean energy is the place to look,” which I wish I had written, and will borrow from here with appropriate attribution.

    October 26, 2020, 6 AM MDT

  • Lauerman: Another Oil Price Boom On The Horizon?

    The Daily Oil Bulletin published several articles about the International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook 2020, its latest long-term scenarios, when released on Oct. 13. And by simply glancing at their titles I knew which one of them would be the most read — IEA Warns That Ample Global Crude Supply ‘Should Not Be Taken For Granted’ — although I must admit to being surprised it only came in second place among all the articles published in DOB that day.

    October 15, 2020, 7:32 AM MDT

  • Debt Financings Jump 169% Year-Over-Year

    A total of $6.7 billion in equity and debt was raised by the Canadian oil and natural gas industry in the first six months of 2020, up 145 per cent from the $2.7 billion recorded over the same time period in 2019. Debt financings were up significantly year-over-year while the amount of equity raised declined.

    September 30, 2020, 6 AM MDT

  • Lauerman: Time For Alberta To Build A Cleaner Economy

    The halcyon days for Alberta oil and gas are over, the oilsands boom is dead, and it’s time for the provincial government to accept this new reality — rather than burying its head in the sand and/or fruitlessly fighting it — and adjust to make the best of an otherwise bad situation.

    September 29, 2020, 8:35 AM MDT

  • Five Big Questions On Energy And Climate Emerge From Ottawa’s Speech From The Throne

    When it comes to energy and climate, the highly anticipated Speech from the Throne was a bit of a letdown.

    September 25, 2020, 12 AM MDT

  • Debt Levels Spike Among E&P Companies In Q2: EIA Analysis

    Debt levels spiked among E&P companies during Q2 according to the latest analysis by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), illustrating the immediate impact of reduced oil demand and prices on the sector. 

    September 24, 2020, 7:54 AM MDT

  • North American Upstream Asset Impairments Exceed $100 Billion In First Half Of 2020

    The value of asset impairments recorded by under-pressure North American upstream producers exceeded $100 billion during the first half of this year, due primarily to pandemic-related drops in oil demand and per-bbl prices.

    September 21, 2020, 8:57 AM MDT

  • A Roadmap To Our Emerging Hydrogen Economy: Part 1

    Decades ago, it might have seemed a little unbelievable that in the futuristic-sounding year of 2020, our economic engines would still mainly be powered by fossil fuels.

    September 16, 2020, 10:55 AM MDT

  • Lauerman: Blue Hydrogen Better Bet For Alberta Than Petchems

    The Alberta government has had a long and generally dismal record of diversifying away from oil and gas since the oil price shocks of the 1970s made the industry the cornerstone of the provincial economy. One of the few successes has been petrochemicals, whereas the most costly failures include a cellphone company, hazardous waste treatment plant, a pulp mill and a magnesium smelter.

    September 10, 2020, 10:12 AM MDT

  • Lauerman: Biden Presidency Series Part 4 — Impact On Canadian Oil And Gas

    Joe Biden, the Democratic Party nominee for the U.S. presidency, upped the ante for his Clean Energy Revolution yet again on August 11, by selecting California Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate. Harris is a hardcore backer of the Green New Deal — and supporter of a fracking ban as well —  having sponsored a draft legislative proposal related to it with Democrat firebrand Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the first-term House Representative from New York State.

    August 26, 2020, 7:33 AM MDT

  • Hayes: Energy Transition — A Realistic Viewpoint

    Every day we see breathless articles about the emerging Energy Transition — the change from today’s hydrocarbon-dominated energy economy to a future where renewables and other low-emission technologies will power our world. Goals are being set to be “carbon neutral” or “100 per cent renewable” by 2050, 2040, or even sooner.

    August 24, 2020, 6 AM MDT

  • Lauerman: Biden Presidency Series Part 3 – Impact On Energy Markets

    The first part of this four-part series explored Joe Biden’s plan to combat global climate change, while the second part identified his probable policies for the U.S. oil and gas industry upon becoming president.

    August 12, 2020, 6 AM MDT

  • Lauerman: Biden Presidency Series Part 2 – Policies For U.S. Oil And Gas Industry

    Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee for the U.S. presidency, upped the ante for his Clean Energy Revolution on July 14, the day after part one of this four-part series was published.

    July 27, 2020, 7:19 AM MDT

  • Lauerman: Biden Presidency Series Part 1 – Clean Energy Revolution

    Joe Biden has made it crystal clear that the U.S. will once again lead the battle against climate change if he is elected president in November. He has been less forthright about his plans for the U.S. oil and gas industry, by all appearances to avoid alienating the Progressive wing within his own Democratic Party.

    July 13, 2020, 6 AM MDT

  • Key Insights Into Chesapeake’s Decline Into Bankruptcy: Evaluate Energy

    From riding high to bankruptcy, Chesapeake Energy Corporation’s decline will shock many in the industry. Evaluate Energy tracks Chesapeake’s cash and financing gap over 10 years.

    June 29, 2020, 11:23 AM MDT

  • Lauerman: King Salman Has Painted Saudi Arabia Into A Corner — Part 2

    Mohammad bin Salman’s (MBS) primary method of stoking the embers of secular Saudi nationalism has been his regional Cold War with Iran, as he has long cast the Islamic Republic as the root of all problems in the Middle East, arguing political — the battle for regional hegemonyand theological — with the Saudis primarily Sunni Muslims and Iranians despised Shiite ones — differences make negotiations between them impossible. MBS has compared Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to Adolph Hitler and threatened to instigate violence within Iran’s borders.

    June 24, 2020, 6 AM MDT

  • Pandemic Leads To Increased Number Of CCAA Processes

    The COVID-19 pandemic has driven a number of both private and publicly-held Canadian oil and natural gas companies into insolvency proceedings.

    June 24, 2020, 9:50 AM MDT

  • Lauerman: King Salman Has Painted Saudi Arabia Into A Corner— Part 1

    King Salman has painted his kingdom into a corner by concentrating power in his matrilineal line of the royal family, and his young and inexperienced son Mohammad bin Salman (MBS) in particular, since ascending the throne in January 2015. By making MBS crown prince in June 2017, after pushing aside two previous princes from other lines of the family, and making his son de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, the king has inadvertently made the House of Saud brittle.

    June 23, 2020, 7:32 AM MDT

  • Three Key Insights Into Shut-In WCSB Production: CanOils Assets

    The impact of demand destruction and oversupply resulting in negative oil prices was realized in April when western Canadian operators began to shut in oil production. Oil production fell to 2.144 million bbls/d in April, a 22 per cent or 591,000-bbl/d reduction from December levels of 2.736 million bbls/d.

    June 23, 2020, 11:05 AM MDT

  • Lauerman: Premier Kenney’s Risky Gamble On Keystone XL

    Premier Jason Kenney backstopped TC Energy’s Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline with $7.5 billion of Alberta’s money at the end of March to ensure a positive final investment decision (FID) and construction on the project to start in April.

    May 28, 2020, 5:49 AM MDT

  • Higher Amount Of Debt Financings Drives Dealer Increase In 2019

    A total of $5.4 billion in capital was raised by the Canadian oil and natural gas industry in 2019, up one per cent from the $5.3 billion raised in 2018.

    May 27, 2020, 7:08 AM MDT

  • Tertzakian: Oil Is Back — But, Post-Pandemic, Where Will It Come From?

    The devastating effects of the pandemic-forced production shut-ins could put Canada and the United States on a regressive path toward dependency on “foreign oil,” a historically disparaging term.

    May 21, 2020, 7:25 AM MDT

  • Lauerman: Shrewd Move By Irving Oil An Indictment On The Feds

    Irving Oil Limited’s recent move to source western Canadian crude oil for its 320,000 bbl/d Saint John refinery, the largest in the country, using foreign tanker ships rather than rail or non-existent pipeline is nothing short of genius and an indictment on Canadian energy policy (see Irving Oil Applies To CTA For Tankers To Ship Canadian Crude To Its Saint John Refinery).

    May 13, 2020, 6:23 AM MDT

  • Will We See An Increase In Consolidation In 2020?

    In an article penned by Sayer Energy Advisors in April of 2018 we posed the question; “Will Increased Strategic Alternatives Processes Kick-Start Consolidation?”.

    April 29, 2020, 7:20 AM MDT

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