Canadian petroleum companies
Petroleum in Canada |
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| This article is part of a series. | |
| 1. Early history 2. Story of natural gas 3. Oil sands and heavy oil 4. The frontiers 5. Gas liquids |
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| Resources and producers | |
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Oil reserves Petroleum companies |
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| Categories | |
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Oil fields Oil refineries Oil companies |
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Economy of Canada Energy policy of Canada |
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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 (they are either based entirely in Canada or majority Canadian owned). 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 (<10o API) produces 1.7 fewer barrels per metric ton than West Texas Intermediate oil (according to calculation). A few of the larger companies (Penn West Petroleum and Athabasca Oil Corporation) 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 ($85/bbl) and Western Canadian heavy crude ($65/bbl) with the price of upgraded synthetic oil surpassing WTI when supply falls (before being upgraded to synthetic crude, heavier oil produces fewer barrels of oil per metric ton than lighter oil). The two largest (Suncor and CNRL) are 2 of the 11 most valuable Canadian companies (April 2013). Pacific Rubiales Energy is Canada's largest oil company not based in Calgary, Alberta (2,412 oil and gas companies are based in Calgary).
Ongoing research and development involving extraction technology and processing methods have slowly chipped away at many of the barriers to bitumen production. Many Canadian oil companies have a lot of exposure to heavy oil through assets in Alberta and so they will benefit when research into more efficient and cost effective solutions yields positive results (Petrobank has numerous patents related to extraction technology that at least one major engineering firm considers 17% more efficient than the widely used steam assisted gravity drainage). In the summer of 2010 a research team at Hokkaido University revealed that they had discovered a catalyst that significantly improves the efficiency while lowering costs related to the processing of bitumen. Also among major Canadian producers, interest in new energy technologies is rising, a direct result of both heightened interest in raising the proportion of the oil sands that can be recovered (10%, which means 1.6 trillion barrels (250 km3) are at stake) 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.
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