Slow, incremental recovery expected as players consolidate and insolvencies take their toll Stikeman partner Ben Hudy says he expects M&A activity to improve in Canadian oil and gas sector in 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic is expected to result in a wave of M&A transactions as the oil and gas industry consolidates to achieve greater efficiencies and stronger balance sheets, says Stikeman Elliott LLP partner Ben Hudy, with much of this consolidation to be affected through insolvency proceedings. “While 2020 was a brutal year for the oil and gas industry in Canada, there is reason for optimism on M&A in 2021,” says Calgary-based Hudy. Stikeman recently released a report on the sector saying prospects will improve following the pandemic’s negative impacts and the OPEC price war that kicked off before the pandemic even started. The report notes that Canada is one of the few jurisdictions in the world that opens its oil and gas resources to domestic and foreign investment. It also has the third-largest crude reserves globally — 171 billion barrels, of which 166 billion are in the oil sands — and is the fourth-largest oil producer and the fifth-largest natural gas producer. Hudy acknowledges that there are still […]
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