Good articleRead the whole article...will worth the read... I am adding more this week. I now hold 11,600 @ 18.38 ...so hang in there I repeat NXY will... I repeat will ...be taken out THIS SPRING or early summer!!
And I am told it will be a CANADIAN oil company possibly IMO Imperial Oil, or maybe even PCA Petro Canada. But this Article thinks other wise ..in any case I wouldn't be selling any of my NXY even if you bought it in the twenties.
The price of OIL will recover and so will NXY even if there is no take out...bet on it!
Cheers
UPDATE: Nexen Swings To 4Q Loss On Impairment Charges12 Feb 2009 -
By Hyun Young Lee
OTTAWA -(Dow Jones)- Nexen Inc. (NXY) became the latest Canadian energy company to swing to a loss in the fourth quarter, hit by impairment charges and marketing losses, while a drop in oil prices crunched into cash flow.
The results mark the first with former Chief Financial Officer Marvin Romanow at the helm. Ramonow took the position on Jan. 1 after Charlie Fischer retired. Romanow signaled that the Calgary-based company would continue to invest in places "where we have knowledge and history and success."
Canada's fourth-biggest oil and gas producer lost C$181 million or 35 Canadian cents a share in the fourth quarter, compared with a profit of C$194 million or 36 Canadian cents a year earlier. Results were hurt by non-cash asset-impairment charges totaling C$317 million from U.K. North Sea and Gulf of Mexico properties as well as challenges in Nexen's marketing division.
Cash flow of C$559 million or C$1.08 a share was down from C$1.08 billion or C$2.04 a share a year earlier.
In general, analysts were expecting most Canadian oil and gas producers to post lower cash flow in the fourth quarter as a result of the drop in commodity prices. Nexen said benchmark crude prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange averaged US$58.73 a barrel in the fourth quarter, after peaking at US$147.27 a barrel in July.
Revenue fell to C$1.70 billion on production of 230,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day in the last quarter of 2008, from C$1.85 billion on 262,000 barrels a day a year earlier. The mean analyst estimate for revenue was C$1.51 billion.
For all of 2008, Nexen earned C$1.72 billion or C$3.26 a share, had cash flow of C$4.22 billion or C$8.04 a share and produced 250,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day. It had been forecasting to end the year with cash flow of about C$4.4 billion and production of 250,000 to 265,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day.
In early December, Nexen unveiled plans to spend C$2.6 billion on oil and gas projects in 2009, about 13% less than in 2008. At that time, the company said it had enough flexibility to cut back its 2009 spending should oil prices drop even further.
"As the world stands today, it is unlikely we will carry out our whole 2009 capital program," Nexen said in its earnings release.
The company has some flexibility in pacing development activities, Romanow said on a conference call, noting Nexen's oil fields in Yemen, coal-bed methane properties in Alberta and the promising Horn River shale gas play in British Columbia.
"Our first priority has got to be that we preserve the opportunity and value base that we have created," Romanow said.
A number of Canadian oil and gas producers have sharply cut their 2009 capital budgets in response to the plunge in commodity prices and the economic crisis.
In 2009, Nexen expects production after royalties to increase about 10% compared with 2008 to a range of 225,000-240,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day.
In late January, Nexen completed the acquisition of an additional 15% interest in the Long Lake oil-sands project from OPTI Canada Inc. (OPC.T) for C$735 million, making it the sole operator of the resource and upgrader at the northern Alberta project. Nexen now owns 65% of Long Lake, with OPTI holding the remaining 35%. The first synthetic crude oil was produced at Long Lake in late January and the upgrader is expected to ramp up to full design rates over the next 12 to 18 months.
Nexen's Long Lake interest, along with its shale gas and coal-bed methane assets, make the company an attractive takeover target, analysts reckon, especially given depressed market valuations at present. The company's shares have been regularly bucked by rumors that French oil major Total SA (TOT) is preparing a hostile bid - most recently in early December - which is currently attempting a takeover of would-be oil sands developer UTS Energy Inc. (UTS.T). On Wednesday, Canaccord Adams reiterated that potential buyers could include BP PLC (BP), ConocoPhillips (COP) and ENI SpA (E), which face declining reserves and production.
Earlier this week, rumors that Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRKB) was looking to make its first investment in the oil sands by buying into Nexen were largely dismissed by analysts. Buffet visited the oil sands region in northern Alberta last summer but said at the time that he was "filing away" what he'd learned for later.
Nexen was trading recently at C$16.70 on the Toronto Stock Exchange, down 4.2%.
(Judy McKinnon in Toronto contributed to this report)