Bmo Capital Markets News

Aberdeen, UK-based Verus Petroleum has secured a 12-fold increase in its production – from 1,500 to 18,000 barrels per day in less than a year – with the closing of three recent acquisitions on the UK Continental Shelf.A press release from the petroleum exploration and production services provider said that it  has recently completed three significant acquisitions; an interest in the Babbage gas field acquired from Premier Oil on 6th December, on the back of completing transactions to acquire Cieco Exploration & Production (UK) Limited and Equinor’s Alba field interest in November.The private equity backed independent operator said that these three deals, each with an economic date of 1st January 2018, were funded by a combination of equity, existing cash reserves and debt.

BP said on Tuesday it would take a new charge over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill after again raising estimates for outstanding claims, lifting total costs to around $65 billion. The post-tax, non-operating $1.7-billion charge BP will take in its fourth quarter results came after claims resolved in recent months were about seven times higher than anticipated, the London-based company said. The claims were part of the Court Supervised Settlement Program that was set up in the wake of the disaster and included nearly 400,000 cases, BP said.

DP World announces the creation of an investment vehicle in partnership with Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), one of North America’s largest pension fund managers. The investment platform totals US$ 3.7 billion, with DP World holding a 55% share and CDPQ the remaining 45%. The platform will invest in ports and terminals globally (excluding the UAE) across the life cycle of the asset, with a focus on investment grade countries. It will also invest mostly in existing assets, but with up to 25% invested in greenfield opportunities. Through this platform, DP World will share new investment opportunities and CDPQ will have the option of co-investing alongside DP World.

Opponents of Canada's Northern Gateway pipeline, bolstered by a coastal town's vote against the project, said on Monday they will now push harder for a provincial referendum they hope would kill Enbridge Inc's plan to move oil sands crude to Asian markets. Residents of Kitimat, located in British Columbia's remote northwest, voted against the proposed project on Saturday, with 58.4 percent of residents opposed in the non-binding poll. The small town is where the terminal facilities for the C$7.9 billion ($7.21 billion) pipeline would be built. The victory has fueled calls for a vote to determine if there is public support in the rest of the West Coast province of British Columbia, which would host more than half of the pipeline and all the marine transport facilities.

Cargill Inc said on Tuesday its quarterly earnings fell 28 percent, making it one of the largest companies yet to demonstrate how big commodity market disruptions this year have hurt its bottom line. Minneapolis-based Cargill, a top global commodities trader, was hit by a triple-whammy of unexpected events, including a surge in energy prices in January, rail backlogs, and the rejection of U.S. corn shipments by China. The problems are likely to have also hit Cargill peers such as Archer Daniels Midland Co and Bunge Ltd, which are due to report financial results in the coming weeks. The coldest winter in 30 years catapulted regional U.S. natural gas prices to record highs, while power markets gyrated as producers struggled to keep supplies flowing to consumers.

Economic growth in Nova Scotia, currently running at 1.6 percent for 2011, looks promising over the next two years, according to the Provincial Monitor report released today by BMO Economics. "We expect growth to accelerate to a 2.5 percent clip by 2013, when the positive impact of the recently announced Federal shipbuilding contract begins to take root," said Robert Kavcic, Economist, BMO Capital Markets. The contract landed by Irving Shipbuilding to build combat ships for the Royal Canadian Navy is worth an estimated $25 billion through 2030. The Conference Board of Canada estimates that about 8,000 new jobs - more than 1 per cent of total employment in the province - will be sustained over that period, and that real GDP will see a boost of about $800 million per year on average.