Record year for Birchcliff

Article Excerpt

BIRCHCLIFF ENERGY $8.40 (Toronto symbol BIR; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403-261-6401; www.birchcliffenergy.com; Units outstanding: 142.9 million; Market cap: $1.2 billion; No dividends paid) jumped recently after it announced that it ended 2013 with record production of 30,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day (including natural gas). Since then, the company’s output has risen to 32,100 barrels a day, mainly because it bought a partner’s 30% stake in one of its wells in Alberta’s Pouce Coupe area for $56 million. The company plans to spend $275 million on exploration and development this year. That could let it end 2014 with production as high as 39,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Birchcliff Energy is still a buy. buy…