Canada’s Tourmaline Gains in Q4 on Acquisitions
Tourmaline Oil, now billing itself Canada’s largest natural gas and NGL producer, reported Q4 2020 net earnings of C$629.2mn (US$500.6mn) on March 10, up from C$61.3mn in the comparable 2019 period.
It attributed the increase to a gain on acquisitions and divestitures of C$500mn in the quarter – a period which saw it acquire Modern Resources and Jupiter Resources for C$570mn in cash and shares and the assumption of C$244mn of debt.
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Net earnings for the full year increased to C$618.3mn from C$319.7mn.
Total production averaged a record 336,325 barrels of oil equivalent (boe)/day in Q4 2020, up from 299,844 boe/day in the comparable 2019 period, and ended the year at more than 400,000 boe/day.
Q4 natural gas production rose 11%, to nearly 1.6bn ft3/day, while crude oil, condensate and natural gas liquids production averaged 70,990 b/d, up 19% year-over-year. Natural gas production is forecast to average nearly 1.9bn ft3/day in 2021, Tourmaline said.
Cash flow in 2020 slipped 2%, to C$1.19bn, but Tourmaline was still able to generate nearly C$274mn of free cash flow on the year, enough to fund a dividend which increased during 2020 to C$0.14/share/quarter from C$0.12/share/quarter. The dividend has been increased for Q1 2021, to C$0.16/share, and could rise further still if Tourmaline’s expected C$1.1bn of free cash flow in 2021 materialises.