CONNACHER OIL AND GAS
(T-CLL)
$1.84 -0.02
Somehow I thought this day might have seen a little
joy, maybe even some celebration...not hiding in a bun-
ker wondering how many 400 point down days the Dow
and TSX might have for us and worry if oil even has a
future!
We are referring to the long, anticipated final an-
nouncement by the Alberta’s Cabinet that Connacher’s
Algar SAGD project has been given the go-ahead. Esti-
mates suggest that $120 million of the $350 million pro-
ject has already been spent or committed, but now they
go full-boar ahead.
Jenny Mikhareva of Macquarie Securities writes in a
report today, “Connacher now has all the necessary
regulatory approvals to proceed with construction of
Algar, it’s second 10,000 barrel a day SAGD project at
Great Divide.” \
“We expect the company to begin preparing the site
for construction immediately….and to start construction
of the plant around year end 2008.”
She writes,
“The plant should take roughly 300 days
to build and about one month to commission and then
three months for steam to be going into the ground with
first bitumen production anticipated around March
2010.”
She points out something very important given the
credit crisis, “The project is fully funded, with the com-
pany having roughly $395 million available in cash and
credit.”
Mikhareva has a $5.00 target on the stock writing,
“The company is an attractive investment due to its ex-
isting production and cashflow base; significant, well-
defined growth going forward; its risk mitigating inte-
grated strategy; and a track record of successful project
execution.”
Meanwhile, GMP Securities has a $4.50 target on
Connacher (down from $6.25) and Raymond James has
a $5.75 12-month target (down from $7.25).
Oh, please! Let one of them be right...any one of
them
David Pescod Canaccord