Canadian petroleum companies
Although there are numerous oil companies operating in Canada, the majority of production, refining and marketing is done by fewer than 20 of them. According to the 2013 edition of Forbes Global 2000, canoils.com and any other list that emphasizes market capitalization and revenue when sizing up companies, as of March 31, 2014 these are the largest Canada-based oil and gas companies. However more recent changes, possibly mergers or a stronger showing in the price of oil could mean a few of the oil sands producers are underrepresented; this is because Canadian companies are increasingly dependent on production from that source, which is hurt severely when oil prices decline below 50 to 60 dollars a barrel since costs per barrel traditionally exceed $28 and non-upgraded bitumen produces 1.7 fewer barrels per metric ton than West Texas Intermediate oil. A few of the larger companies don't show up in the Forbes list because its ranking system takes many different factors into account.
Syncrude and Irving Oil are also leaders in the Canadian industry, with Syncrude being the top producer of oil sands crude and Irving Oil operating the largest oil refinery in the country. Also, based on the price paid for a 9% share in Syncrude Canada Ltd by Sinopec the company could be worth as much as US$50 billion. Canadian oil company profits quickly recovered from the financial crisis; In 2009 they were down 90% but in 2010 they reached $8.4 billion; Helping profits is the smaller price gap between West Texas Intermediate oil and Western Canadian heavy crude with the price of upgraded synthetic oil surpassing WTI when supply falls. The two largest are 2 of the 11 most valuable Canadian companies. 2,412 oil and gas companies are based in Calgary, Alberta alone.
Ongoing research and development involving extraction technology and processing methods are chipping away at many of the barriers to bitumen production. A number of Canadian oil companies have a lot of exposure to heavy oil through assets in Alberta, they stand to benefit when research into more efficient and cost effective solutions yields positive results. In the summer of 2010 a research team at Hokkaido University discovered a catalyst that significantly improves the efficiency while lowering costs related to the processing of bitumen. Major oil producers are showing renewed interest in new technologies, a direct result of both heightened interest in raising the proportion of the oil sands that can be recovered and the growing value of licensing rights. That has resulted in a shift in focus over to patent producing research and development. Cenovus Energy has used its patents as a tool to negotiate deals.
Profiled and ranked is every Canadian oil and gas company with a market cap ranking top 500 worldwide and the eight largest by revenue. Eight of the ten most profitable companies of the oil and gas sector operating in Canada are represented here. In 2011 Canadian Natural Resources overtook Suncor to become Canada's largest producer. Suncor produced 549,000 boe/d in 2012 only slightly higher than in 2011. Canadian Natural Resources produced at a gross rate of 655,000 boe/d up from 600,000 boe/d the year before.
Market capitalization (March 31, 2014), revenue (2016), profit (2016), production, reserves
source for market cap, source for profit. Data rounded to nearest million.- By market cap, Crescent Point Energy is the largest Canadian oil company never to make the global 500 list, according to Forbes
- Encana, Talisman Energy last made the Fortune 500 list in June 2011; Cenovus Energy dropped out December 2013.
- CNRL 2013 annual production was estimated to be equivalent/d based on indicated production levels of equivalent ngas and of oil.
- proved reserves
- *proved and probable reserves include those oil and possibly bitumen reserves estimated to be as much if not more than likely recoverable under most recent conditions, production of which is unrestrained by contingencies, for instance, under ideal conditions Cenovus's reserves could be as high as, 114 times larger than those presently recognized.
- After spinning off Cenovus Energy, Encana's production was 95% natural gas.
- based on conversion factor of.00018225 from cubic feet of natural gas to barrels of oil equivalent.
Suncor Energy
- Suncor Energy completed merger with Canada's 11th largest company Petro Canada on August 1, 2009 in a 21 billion dollar deal to form the largest oil and second largest company overall in Canada. At the time of the merger it had a market capitalization of $43 billion and held the biggest position in Alberta's oil sands.
- of oil production.
- with about $30 billion in revenue, $50 billion market capitalization and immense growth coming from the oil sands as a result of rising oil prices, the new company should rival the 12th and 13th largest oil and gas companies in the world Rusneft and Lukoil.
- After acquiring Petro Canada, Suncor divested at least $2.8 billion worth of Petro Canada assets.
- In November 2010 Suncor was Canada's 4th most valuable company.
- Recently has shown renewed interest in developing patents, when considered with nine other oil companies patent applications were up 250% between 2005 and 2010 when compared to 2000 to 2004.
- In December 2011 oil sands production was at a record high 346,000 bbls/d.
- Total production steady in 2012 at 549 mboe/d. 2011 production fell 11.2% to 546 mboe/d due to the loss of output from Libya. In 2008 production was 680 mboe/d.
Canadian Natural Resources Limited
- 34th ranked oil company in 2009 according to fortune 500, 251 overall., 7th most valuable Canadian company in November 2010.
- 2nd largest natural gas producer in Canada.
- During the third quarter of 2010 upstream oil and natural gas production reached the highest rate among Canadian producers.
- operates in the North Sea, Western Canada, and West Africa.
- In last quarter of 2011 company production leaped by a significant margin and stayed there: 2011 production: 657,599 b/d in the fourth quarter, 598,526 b/d over the entire year. Gross output went on to average 655th b/d in 2012, 671th b/d in 2013.
- oil accounts for 90% of product sales.
Encana Corporation
Encana, North America's largest natural gas producer was formed in 2002 when PanCanadian Energy merged with Alberta Energy Company. It operates in Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Colorado, Wyoming, Texas and Louisiana and had the largest reserve base among Canadian producers as recently as 2007.
At the end of 2009 Encana created Cenovus Energy when it split its integrated oil and natural gas components.
In February 2012 Encana sold 40% of its 100% interest in the Cutbank Ridge Complex, a natural gas resource in NE British Columbia. The deal is worth $2.9 billion, in 2011 the company made $3.5 billion in deals. The deal came just after another one involving Petro China collapsed.
- Headquarters: The tall skyscraper called The Bow is the tallest office building in Calgary and the tallest built in Canada since 1990.
Husky Energy
Husky Energy was founded in Wyoming by Albertan Glenn Nielson who with 2 partners, bought 2 heavy oil refineries, and used them to establish the Husky Refining Co. in 1938. This was followed by major purchases of oil rich land and gas stations. In 1946 Nielson moved part of the company to Canada where Husky Oil Ltd. was created separate from the parent company. By the late 1970s the company's need for more funding eventually forced Nielson to sell all his stake in the company. Another Albertan, Bob Blair CEO of the pipeline company AGTL took advantage of the situation gradually increasing his stake in the company until he owned a controlling interest. About a decade later Husky ran into financial problems that were solved when Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing started investing in the company leading to a buy out of Blair's interests in 1991. The 1988 acquisition of Centerra Energy Ltd. made Husky a top 10 Canadian oil company. After a turbulent couple decades, Husky reasserted itself as a major Canadian petroleum company in 2000 by purchasing Renaissance Energy Ltd. in a $3.02 billion deal.
Husky Energy has proven petroleum reserves of and of natural gas. It owns approximately 500 filling stations in Canada as well as property and/or mineral rights to some 6.67 million acres in Western Canada.
Husky's oil production was exactly the same in 2011 as it was in 2003.
Enbridge
Revenue 15.539 bn MV 21.664 bnBegan as a pipeline company called interprovincial pipelines incorporated by Imperial Oil in the 1940s as a result of growth at the Leduc oil fields in Alberta exceeding the capacity of Alberta's refineries to process the oil. In 1950 its pipelines were operational and in 1953 it was a publicly traded company at stock exchanges in Toronto and Montreal. By the late 1950s its main pipeline was almost long handling about of oil per day in certain sections.
In the late 1960s refineries in the US and Canada demanded more oil be delivered from Canadian sources, and the solution deemed best by management, and government officials was to build a new line through Chicago. The access expansion gave the company to Chicago helped the company grow rapidly and by the early 1970s throughput reached of oil. By 1986 Imperial Oil's ownership of the company was down to 33% and through an exchange of shares Imperial Oil helped interprovincial acquire another oil company called Hiram Walker while subsequently changing its name to Interhome Energy Inc. Later it was renamed IPL Energy Inc. During the 1990s it acquired a number of other companies which delivered natural gas as well but most of the company's business was still in crude oil. The new divisions gave the company greater access to Toronto, Quebec and New York. Its last name change made in 1998 was to Enbridge Inc. a combination of the words energy and bridge.
Currently Enbridge owns the world's longest oil pipeline system, owns Canada's largest natural gas distributing company, and has 1.9 million customers. It is also active in the alternative energy sector, having an interest in wind farms, waste heat recovery plants and photovoltaic projects the largest of which is the Sarnia Solar Project.
Revenue comes from commodity sales, gas distribution sales, transportation and other services.
Cenovus Energy
Revenue 13.621 bn MV 25.049 bnCenovus Energy Inc. is the former component of Encana that focused more on integrated oil than natural gas though natural gas continues to contribute about half of total production.
Cenovus Energy owns a 50% interest in two major US refineries operated by Phillips 66, which can act as a natural hedge for the company as commodity prices fluctuate.
Talisman Energy
In 2011 and 2012 Talisman sold off some of its largest assets including 50% of British operations; that resulted in revenue loss.Originally BP Canada, Talisman Energy is a publicly traded Tsx 60 petroleum company that operates in Canada, USA, Columbia, Scotland, Peru, Algeria, Tunisia, UK, Norway, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Australia, and Qatar.
- of oil per day production.
Nexen
In February 2013 Nexen was taken over by Cnooc in a $15.1 billion deal. At the time, Nexen's 2.5 billion boe reserves would've ranked 8th among Canada's oil companies.
When Nexen was created in 1971 it was a subsidiary of the American company Occidental Petroleum called Canadian Occidental Petroleum. After taking over a number of smaller companies in Canada while increasing their international holdings they became larger and more independent of their parent company that by then held only a minor stake. In 2001 the name was changed to nexen in recognition of that.
In 2012 the company profited $333 million on revenues of $6.7 billion which is down since 2008. On November 29, 2011 Nexen sold 40% of its Horn River, Cordova and Liard basins shale-gas assets in northeast B.C. to Inpex Corp and JGC Corp of Japanese for US$676 million.
At the Long Lake project oil is upgraded by a process known as steam assisted gravity drainage.
Operates in Canada, Yemen, Colombia, West Africa and the UK.
- Market cap peaked in 2008 at between US$20 and 24 billion but has since fluctuated between $US10 and $US14 billion
- production : of oil/day in 2011 16% lower than the year before. Production net of royalties was 186,000 boe/d.
Syncrude
- Based on the price paid for a 9% share by Sinopec the company could be worth as much as $US50 billion.
- Syncrude is the world's largest producer of oil sands crude.
- Opened in 1978 and started expanding in 1996
- is a joint venture involving 4 Canadian companies, 3 American, and 1 Japanese.
- #1 single source of oil in Canada
Irving Oil
- operates the largest refinery in Canada and has 1.3 billion dollars in revenue
- The family that controls the company includes 3 billionaires Arthur, James, and John E. Irving *Operates 769 gas stations in Atlantic Canada, New England and Quebec as well as the convenience stores at many of those locations and the Big Stop chain of family restaurants.
- The company has been based in New Brunswick since it was established in 1924.
Addax petroleum
Other large oil and gas companies
These companies have at least 2 billion dollars in market value. In order of size- Corporations that were all trusts until 2011 when they converted
- *Canadian Oil Sands - 36% interest in Syncrude could be worth as much as $US15 billion, revenue was $3.703 billion in 2012 up from $3.46 billion in 2010, $4.54 billion in 2008.
- *Penn West Petroleum - Revenue was $2.64 billion in 2012, down 12% on the year, down 35% since 2008. For the first nine months of 2011 51.9% of company production came from light and medium oil up from 47.6% the year before.
- *Crescent Point Energy - Oil and gas company with interests in the bakken oil field of Alberta. Revenue doubled between 2008 and 2010 then doubled again between 2010 and 2012. annual production was 33.8% higher in 2012 at 98,751 boe/d. production was 41.5% higher in the third quarter of 2010 than the same period in 2009, to equivalent/d ; in July 2010 acquired Shelter Bay Energy for $1.1 billion. Its market value climbed from $5.5 billion in August 2009 to $7.7 billion in July 2010 then surpassing $10 billion late that year.
- *ARC Resources - Just over $1.0 billion in revenue in 2012, 2011, and 2010, in 2009 revenue was at its lowest level in 5 years.
- *Baytex Energy - Most of production currently is heavy oil however many of its projects involve light oil.
- *Pengrowth Energy - For years between 2009 and 2012 revenue ranged from $1.1 to $1.2 billion, 16% more than what it was in 2006. Production grew 26.58% between 2006 and 2009 reaching equivalent/d though production was highest in 2007
- *Enerplus - Has operations and projects in four Canadian provinces and seven U.S. states. Produced about equivalent/d in 2010 60% of which is natural gas. 2012 revenue was $1.19 billion about the same as 2010, half of what it was in 2008.
- *Inter Pipeline Fund - Oversees one of Canada's biggest petroleum and petrochemical transport, pipeline and storage business; transports most of Canada's oil sands bitumen produced by such companies as Shell Canada, Chevron and Encana. Major moves include the 2007 $760 million acquisition of the Corridor pipeline in Alberta, 2008 $1.8 billion expansion of oil sands pipelines, 2004 $540 million purchase of 3 of Canada's largest natural gas treatment plants. Market value was $4 billion in 2008 more than 6 times what it was in 1997.
- *Keyera - midstream company with 18 natural gas liquid processing plants in Alberta.
- Independent Oil and Gas
- *Pacific Rubiales Energy - Deeply rooted in Colombia where it enjoys strategic partnerships with Ecopetrol and where a major part of the company was started. It is the 2nd largest independent oil and gas company operating in South America.
- *MEG Energy - Borderline large cap oil sands producer with of 2P reserves in Christina Lake and Surmont.
- *Tourmaline Oil Corp - Primarily a natural gas company with operations in Northern BC and central Alberta. In the first half of 2012 88% of daily production was natural gas. In 2012 petroleum reserves were up 69%. On November 30, 2012 Tourmaline acquired Huron Energy Corp for 7.4 million of its own shares.
- *Paramount Resources Limited - Calgary based producer of oil and natural gas. The company operates in three Canadian provinces and two US states. Natural gas accounts for 80% of total production and 77% of total reserves.
- *Athabasca Oil Sands Corp
- *Niko Resources Ltd - Oil and Gas company with significant natural gas reserves in India. It is also one of the largest owners of underwater exploration properties in Indonesia.
- *Vermilion Energy, Pembina Pipeline, Petrominerales, Petrobank Energy and Resources, Sherritt International Corporation, Laricina Energy
- *Inter Pipeline - major processor of natural gas that handles bulk storage in Canada, the U.S., and Germany. Has considerable access to the Edmonton market through majority stake in the cold lake pipeline system.
Forbes ranking of Canadian companies
In 2014 Enbridge and TransCanada re-entered the list after a one-year absence; Pembina Pipeline is also a new addition. Dropping out of the list was Canadian Oil Sands Ltd, Pacific Rubiales Energy in 2015, Penn West Petroleum in 2013, Arc Resources in 2012.
Revenue and profit are from the 12-month period ended March 2015, assets and market capitalization are from March
May 2015 Cum. Rank | Name | Rank 2013 | Rank 2014 | Rank 2015 | 2015 Rank | 2014 Rank | 2015 rev | 2015 Profit | Assets | Market cap March |
1 | Suncor | 142 | 149 | 188 | 20 | 20 | 34.0 | 1,300 | 62.9 | 44,900 |
2 | Enbridge | na | 344 | 245 | 25 15 | 40 | 32.2 | 600 | 54.2 | 42,000 |
3 | Canadian Natural Resources | 288 | 278 | 257 | 27 4 | 31 2 | 17.1 | 3,600 | 53.4 | 35,300 |
4 | Husky Energy | 289 | 315 | 399 | 35 | 35 1 | 21.9 | 1,100 | 34.5 | 21,400 |
5 | TransCanada Corp. | na | 390 | 406 | 38 6 | 44 | 9.3 | 1,700 | 50.9 | 30,700 |
6 | Cenovus Energy | 427 | 523 | 637 | 51 1 | 52 11 | 17.8 | 674 | 21.4 | 14,600 |
7 | Encana | 1166 | 1189 | 677 | 54 30 | 84 18 | 7.6 | 3,400 | 24.6 | 9,800 |
8 | Crescent Point Energy | 1532 | 1586 | 1362 | 86 17 | 103 23 | 3.1 | 461 | 14.5 | 11,100 |
9 | Pembina Pipeline | na | 1533 | 1547 | 94 7 | 101 | 5.5 | 347 | 9.7 | 10,900 |
10 | Talisman Energy | 1043 | 1405 | 1728 | 105 10 | 95 35 | 4.6 | 17.3 | 8.000 | |
11 | Canadian Oil Sands Limited | 1130 | 1296 | na | na | 92 28 | 3.9 | 800 | 9.6 | 10,100 |
12 | Pacific Rubiales Energy | 1641 | 1704 | na | na | 108 23 | 4.6 | 400 | 11.2 | 5,900 |
Sources
and
Key people
, John T Ferguson, Richard L. George, Randy Eresman, David P.O'Brien, John C.S. Lau, Li Ka-shing, David D. Daniel, John Manzoni, Philip D. Dolan, Marvin Romanow,John Backer