By an OGJ Online Correspondent
CALGARY, Feb. 14�Anderson Exploration Ltd., Calgary, said it quadrupled net earnings in the fourth quarter of 2000 to $174 million (Can.) from the same period a year earlier.
Anderson, now Canada�s fifth largest exploration and production firm after several recent acquisitions, forecast strong performance in 2001 based on continuing high natural gas prices and strong demand.
Anderson recently completed an $825 million takeover of Numac Energy Inc. that increased its gas production 28% and its crude production 42% (OGJ Online, Jan. 19, 2001). It also acquired Ulster Petroleums Ltd. in a $512 million takeover last spring.
Chairman J.C. Anderson said company cash flow could exceed $1 billion in 2001 for the first time. He said cash flow was $400 million in the first quarter 2001 and the second quarter is expected to be as good or better.
Anderson's production of gas increased 19% to 680 MMcfd and oil and gas liquids 40% to 49,550 b/d.
The company has extensive operations in western Canada, weighted towards gas. It has acquired a large land portfolio in the Mackenzie Delta and Beaufort Sea regions of Canada�s Arctic, where exploration is increasing and a gas pipeline is being considered.
Analysts see Anderson as a potential target for a takeover by a company seeking gas reserves.
