Compton Will Switch To Gas

Article Excerpt

COMPTON PETROLEUM $11.50 (Toronto symbol CMT; SI Rating: Speculative) (403- 237-9400; www.comptonpetroleum.com; Shares outstanding: 129.1 million; Market cap: $1.5 billion) now gets about a quarter of its production from crude oil and liquids and three-quarters from natural gas. Now the company plans to sell all of its oil properties and produce only natural gas. It expects natural gas prices to strengthen over the next few years. Compton is raising its capital spending to $450 million this year, up 20% from a previously planned $375 million. This includes drilling 350 wells in the second half of this year, all looking to strike gas. The company is also acquiring TSX-listed Stylus Energy for $91 million. Stylus’ production from its properties in southern Alberta is almost entirely natural gas. Compton expects to finish 2007 averaging 219 million cubic feet per day of natural gas production. That’s after the addition of 12 million cubic feet per day from Stylus. Compton is a hold. hold…