CANADIAN OILPATCH DEALS SINCE PANDEMIC CRUSHED PRICES WHITECAP BUYS NAL RESOURCES

CALGARY • Since the pandemic caused oil prices to crater this year, energy sector companies have been striking deals in an attempt to scale up.

CONOCOPHILLIPS BUYS KELT ASSETS

Kelt Exploration had almost reached its limit on its bank lines before selling 140,000 acres of natural gas properties to Houston-based ConocoPhillips on July 22 for $510 million in cash.

CANADIAN NATURAL RESOURCES BUYS PAINTED PONY

Canada's largest oil and gas company CNRL announced on Aug. 10 it would pay $111 million in cash to buy Painted Pony, a midsized natural gas producer, and assume its $350 million of debt. Analysts described the $461M deal as a bestcase scenario for Painted Pony.

OBSIDIAN OFFERS TO BUY BONTERRA

Heavily indebted Obsidian Energy hoped shareholders of Bonterra Energy will swap shares in their company for shares in Obsidian when it announced an unusual, all-share hostile takeover bid on Aug. 31. Bonterra, which was worth roughly $50 million at the time, had previously rebuffed merger talks with Obsidian, which had a market capitalization of $ 45 million.

Manulife Financial Corp. had been looking for a way to sell off portfolio company NAL Resources and this year found a buyer in Whitecap Resources, which announced a $155-million deal to buy NAL on Aug. 31.

TC ENERGY BUYS TC PIPELINES

Calgary- based pipeline giant TC Energy Corp., previously known as TransCanada, announced Oct. 5 its intention to buy the remaining shares in subsidiary TC Pipelines LP.

ALTAGAS INCREASES STAKE IN PETROGAS

AltaGas announced on Oct. 16 it would spend $715 million to buy up an additional 37 per cent stake in privately held Calgary-based midstream company Petrogas Energy Corp.