Energy Summary for Feb. 8, 2018

by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery lost 64 cents to $61.15 on the New York Merc, while Brent for April lost 70 cents to $64.81 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $30.70 to WTI ($30.45), unchanged. Natural gas for March lost 0.5 cent to $2.70. The TSX energy index lost 4.79 points to 167.95.

Bill McCaffrey's Athabasca producer, MEG Energy Corp. (MEG), gained 63 cents to $5.65 on 13.58 million shares, after announcing that it is finally selling its 50-per-cent interest in the Access pipeline for $1.4-billion. MEG began to make noises about selling this interest in 2015 to raise money to pay down debt, which at the time was nearly $4.7-billion. In 2016, the owner of the other 50-per-cent interest, Devon Energy, was able to sell its half for $1.4-billion to Wolf Midstream, which is backed by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Wolf hinted at potentially buying MEG's half as well, but no deal emerged until today. As part of their deal, Wolf is also acquiring MEG's Stonefell terminal, which connects MEG's Christina Lake production facilities, through the Access pipeline, to other distribution points. Stonefell is valued at $210-million, so the total consideration for the Access interest and Stonefell is $1.61-billion. MEG will receive $1.52-billion of this consideration in cash. The other $90-million will cover incremental toll fees for future Access pipeline expansions. MEG has agreed to transport all of its Christina Lake production for the next 30 years through the Access pipeline. As well, MEG will continue to operate Stonefell under lease and will exclusively use the terminal's 900,000-barrel storage facility.

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