During February, 25 of the 45 publicly traded TSX E&P companies (with assets focused predominately in Canada) declined in value, two were flat and the remaining 18 companies climbed month-over-month. Gear Energy Ltd.’s sale to Cenovus Energy Inc. closed, which reduced the number of TSX listed companies. The spin-out of Lotus Creek Resources Inc. commenced trading on the TSX Venture Exchange and has been included in that category. Of those companies that had an increase in their share price, the rise ranged from 0.80% (Freehold Royalties Ltd.) to Paramount Resources Ltd.’s 19.81% increase to $16.51/share (adjusted for its $15.00/share special dividend). On a combined basis, the TSX E&P group had an average fall of 1.73% and a median drop of 1.70%.

As for the companies listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, only six companies were in the green month-over-month, five were flat and the remaining 11 companies suffered a drop. Overall, the group had an average fall of 0.91% and a median decline of 0.27%. As previously mentioned, Lotus Creek commenced trading on the Venture exchange in February.

Oil prices slid in February with WTI falling 4.71% to USD $70.25/bbl, Edmonton Par dropping 4.15% to USD $64.01/bbl and WCS declining a modest 0.40% to USD $56.77/bbl. During the month, there were a number of factors that dragged oil down. There was uncertainty over global economic growth, a slowdown of the US economy, a potential peace deal between the Ukraine and Russia, continued threats of tariffs by the US on its trading partners, ongoing refinery maintenance and the prospect of increasing supplies from OPEC+. There were a few items which added some support to oil prices, which included Trump reversing a license given to Chevron Corporation to operate in Venezuela, a drone attack on a Russian pipeline which pumps approximately 1% of global crude supply and Trump’s plan to restore his “maximum pressure” crusade on Iran in an effort to stop them from obtaining a nuclear weapon and drive their oil exports down to zero.

NYMEX natural gas prices jumped 25.87% to USD $3.80/MMBtu while AECO fell 14.44% to $1.60/MMBtu; NYMEX averaged USD $3.74/MMBtu and AECO averaged $1.98/MMBtu during the month. NYMEX prices climbed as a result of lower output as extreme cold hit some parts of the US causing oil and natural gas wells to freeze, an increase in heating demand from the extreme cold and a record amount of natural gas flowing to liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants.

In February 2025, there were a number of upstream M&A transactions announced in the Canadian oil & natural gas sector. The largest transaction in February was InPlay Oil Corp.’s acquisition of Cardium light oil focused assets in the Pembina area of Alberta from Obsidian Energy Ltd. for approximately…

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