The following is an excerpt from Canaccord Genuity's Morning Coffee newsletter.
Shares of three Canadian energy juniors soared Friday after the Quebec government announced that it is going ahead with plans to exploit the oil resources on Anticosti Island, acquiring a sizeable stake in two consortiums created to further the work and determine if deposits there are economically viable.
Quebec’s Premier Pauline Marois announced deals with the firms
Petrolia Inc. (
TSX: V.PEA,
Stock Forum),
Corridor Resources Inc. (
TSX: T.CDH,
Stock Forum),
Junex Inc. (
TSX: V.JNX,
Stock Forum) and France-based multinational oil company Maurel & Prom to carry out two exploration programs in two phases.
The accord with PEA, CDH, and Maurel & Prom will see it invest $100 million. The agreement with JNX will see it, Ressourcs Quebec and a so far undetermined participant in a $90 million joint venture.
The first phase of the program with CDH and PEA, which has a budget of up to $60 million, is slated to start this year with the drilling of 15 to 18 wells. This would be followed by the drilling of three more wells with multiple fracture stimulations, also called hydraulic fracturing, in 2015.
Following favourable results from the first phase, the joint venture has set aside about $40 million, for the second phase of the exploration program to drill and fracture-stimulate additional wells and conduct feasibility studies.
CDH embarked on a fact-finding mission on Anticosti Island in 2012 with Petrolia. The program consisted of drilling three holes into the island’s Macasty formation to obtain core samples. The program intended to further explore the Macasty formation, the laterial equivalent of the Utica formation in eastern Ohio.
An independent resource assessment estimated the potential petroleum reserves at the equivalent of 33.9 billion barrels of oil. However, it’s unclear how much of that oil is technically or economically recoverable. Phase 1 of the exploration program with JNX will be composed of nine wells for which the budget is estimated at $50 million.
On Tuesday, Junex was up 13% to 79 cents, leaving a market cap of $52.3 million, based on 66.2 million shares outstanding. The 52-week range is $1.19 and 40 cents.
Corridor Resources jumped 3.8% to $2.20, leaving a market cap of $193.7 million, based on 88.5 million shares outstanding. The 52-week range is $2.35 and 60 cents.
Petrolia gained 5.4% to 88 cents, leaving a market cap of $62.2 million, based on 70.7 million shares outstanding. The 52-week range is $1.19 and 57 cents.