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Gold/Mining/Energy : Canadian Oil & Gas Companies -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: kidl who wrote (21213)	3/8/2013 11:06:12 AM
From: VisionsOfSugarplums	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24928

Yep, don't have to come from the business to be in the business for sure. Look at Goldman Sachs, for example. They own a bunch too. If you hire the right people, you can get it done. And I'll say that I don't like it only from the standpoint that it would be ridiculous to find that facility acceptable over others simply because the person isn't from the oil and gas industry. Although I can't believe public opinion would be that shallow (hopefully anyways). I think he's got a bigger challenge as well versus the newspaper business which is a little simpler business - if you don't know the business, how do you get the right people, connections, etc. Obviously with assistance, but ultimately it's tougher. I would think he's going to have to joint venture with someone ultimately, if it moves forward.

To: kidl who wrote (21213)	3/8/2013 7:00:10 PM
From: westslope	Respond to of 24928

Black may benefit from being BC boy but his lack of oil sector experience will be seen as irrelevant by those that currently oppose the NGP. I doubt Black will able to persuade interior communities to accept dil-bit pipe across their territories. Am guessing that he may have a better understanding of aboriginal communities and relevant history than most in the Alberta oil patch. On the other hand, he opposed the Nisga’a treaty and ordered strict editorial compliance across all his newspapers. There's some baggage that will hurt him. Activists love to eat guys like David Black for lunch. The big winner from all this behind-pipe heavy oil could be Eastern Canada. Not what I would have anticipated. But the Western Canada discounts may make Eastern Canada a desirable outlet. I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that some within the PQ government in Québec would love nothing more than one or two dil-bit refineries in la belle province. Politics permitting of course and therein lies the dilemma. Québec 'national' political leaders are just as mindful of the mob as all other western democratic governments. The former Liberal government imposed a moratorium on shale gas exploitation because of the popular political pressure not because the Liberals opposed o&g activities. Would guess that one refinery in New Brunswick, at least one in Québec, and export facilities in either or both places would be sufficient to justify laying new pipe. ------------------------------------------------ In the meantime, the WTI and Brent futures markets suggest that the gap will narrow but still remains around -11% (relative to Brent) in December 2015 (according to my calcs) and an $8 spread in 2017 according a reading of future markets performed mid-February. I would not be surprised to see the gap increase near-term. With exception of a good sized holding Canadian Oilsands--Syncrude sells high value synthetic crude upgraded from bitumen--I'm basically steering clear of the WCSB, preferring to load up on Pacific Rubiales, for example, and other oversea companies that sell into global markets at prices still tightly correlated to Brent.