Oct

17

Smaller Oil Producers may Sell Out

Filed Under News Articles, Oil Exports, Oil Sands | Leave a Comment

Right now with some economic uncertainty, some smaller players in the oil industry may look at selling vs. pushing through this time.  We may see take-overs starting to happen more frequently in the months ahead.  Some of these companies who would rely on outside investment and capital to run their business, might need to look for funds elsewhere.

But overall, Canada’s oilpatch comes out of the market meltdown relatively unscathed with the exception of some battered share prices.

That’s because the industry has traditionally relied on internally generated cash flows to fund growth.

Hal Kvisle, president of pipeline giant TransCanada Corp. said “If you go back to the start of my time in this job, we were generating about $1 billion a year in cash flow, of which the first $400 million went to the payment of debt. Now we generate $3 billion and the first $700 million or $800 million goes to the payment of a dividend, so we have five or six times as much available financial strength.”

There is a ton of money in the larger companies right now.  The revenue they have generated over the last couple of years, plus having majority of budgets based on the $70-$90 per barrel price, they will be able to weather the economic uncertainties in the coming months.

Oct

15

Oil Country Boom Ain’t Over…

Filed Under Alberta, Education, Mexico, News Articles, Oil Exports, Oil Sands, World News | 1 Comment

Jeff Rubin has a simple message for Albertans worried about plunging oil prices: CHILL OUT!

This was the opening line of a great newspaper article posted in Vancouer Sun on Sept. 20, 2008.  The odd thing about this, is that the articles that talk about the positive things this economy are brining are found tucked away in papers… prime example, this was on page I6 !

Here is what it had to say…

But for Canadians, the key tidbits are that the U.S., our primary export market, is going to become even more dependent on us. Not only is their ability to supply their own demands diminishing as well-known basins such as the Gulf Coast begin to show diminishing returns, but projected replacement supplies from places such as the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve are decades away from becoming a reality.
At the same time, other key U.S. suppliers such as Mexico and Venezuela have, to put it politely,
issues. Within the next four or five years, for example, Rubin predicts Mexico “will no longer be exporting oil to the United States.” As for America’s relationship with Venezuela, suffice to say it’s not likely to improve so long as strongman Hugo Chavez is calling the shots — and there is no reason to believe that is about to change anytime soon. What does it all mean? Good things for the oilpatch by and large. Without a doubt, demand for production from the oilsands will continue to grow in the United States and elsewhere — even if, as a result of the credit crunch that is sure to follow this week’s machinations in the investment-banking world, some projects are temporarily shelved.
And in triple-digit prices, conventional explorers will also be chomping at bit, so to speak, to find more oil. Which is why - as difficult as it may be - we need to be sanguine about what lies ahead for the oilpatch.

BOTTOM LINE . . .

We Canada, provide USA our southern friends, SECURITY in the future…