For the second half of 2016, Canadian Natural Resources Limited (TO:CNQ) has decided to spend much more than planned earlier for drilling activities following the strengthening of oil prices.
The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell to a 12-year low mark of $26.21 per barrel in mid-February. From there, this commodity settled at $47.98 each barrel yesterday, reflecting a jump as high as over 83%. With this recovery, the leading independent exploration and production company will likely deploy $50 million more than what it intended before for activities like drilling 123 new heavy crude wells, 5 new light oil wells and 11 thermal crude wells.
Canadian Natural is not the only firm to increase spending with oil walking on the bullish path. Devon Energy Corporation (NYSE:DVN) is among the handful of North American players to spend more capital this year.
Calgary, Alberta-based Canadian Natural Resources is engaged in the acquisition, development and exploitation of crude oil and natural gas properties. It has a broad portfolio of low-risk exploration and development projects that yield long-term volume growth at above-average rates.
However, Canadian Natural pursues long-term oil projects, which call for large capital outlays and several years of development before any cash flow is realized. Therefore, cost and time overrun in the ongoing projects have a negative impact on the stock’s performance.
CDN NTRL RSRCS Price
Currently, the company carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), which implies that the stock will perform in line with the broader U.S. equity market over the next one to three months.
Some better-ranked players in the same space include Africa Oil Corp (OTC:AOIFF) and Baytex Energy Corp. (TO:BTE) . Both players carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
CDN NTRL RSRCS (CNQ): Free Stock Analysis Report
BAYTEX ENERGY (BTE): Free Stock Analysis Report
DEVON ENERGY (DVN): Free Stock Analysis Report
AFRICA OIL CORP (AOIFF): Free Stock Analysis Report
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