Higher drilling lifts their cash flow

Article Excerpt

BIRCHCLIFF ENERGY $5.19 (Toronto symbol BIR; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403-261-6401; www. birchcliffenergy.com; Shares outstanding: 263.0 million; Market cap: $1.4 billion; Dividends yield: 1.9%) explores for, develops and produces oil and gas, mainly in the Peace River Arch area of both Alberta and B.C. About 77% of its output is gas. The remaining 23% is oil. In July 2016, the company bought Encana Corp.’s Gordondale natural gas fields in B.C. for $612.3 million in cash. The deal was big for Birchcliff: Gordondale expanded the company’s production over 50%. In the three months ended June 30, 2017, Birchcliff’s cash flow per share jumped sharply, to $0.33 from $0.09 a year earlier. The increase came from higher oil and gas prices and higher daily production. Output rose to a record average of 64,636 barrels of oil per day in the latest quarter. That was up 63.6% from 39,513 barrels a year earlier. Birchcliff has just increased its planned spending on exploration and development this year by 13.8%,…