Canadian Oil Sands, Enbridge, Husky: Canadian Equity Preview

By John Kipphoff

Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Shares of the following companies may have unusual fluctuations in Canadian trading today. Stock symbols are in parentheses and prices are from the close on Jan. 16.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index gained 0.5 percent to 8,920.40. U.S. equity markets are closed today for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday

Canadian Oil Sands Trust (COS-U CN): The largest oilsands producer was downgraded to “market perform” from “outperform” by BMO Capital Markets analyst Randy Ollenberger in Calgary. The shares fell 2.2 percent to C$20.05.

Enbridge Inc. (ENB CN): Canada’s biggest pipeline company shelved plans for a C$346-million ($278.4 million) expansion that would have sent crude from western Canada through Quebec and Ontario to the U.S., the Globe and Mail reported Jan. 17, citing company spokeswoman Jennifer Varey. The shares rose 0.9 percent to C$40.39.

Husky Energy Inc. (HSE CN) The energy producer’s light-oil refinery in British Columbia returned to almost full operation yesterday after a power outage knocked it off line. The Prince George refinery has the capacity to process 12,000 barrels of crude a day. The shares added 1.2 percent to C$32.83.

Nortel Networks Corp. (NT CN): The phone equipment maker’s British pension fund will seek a bailout from the U.K.’s Pension Protection Fund to help meet its commitments after Toronto-based Nortel filed for bankruptcy, the Sunday Times reported, citing a person familiar with the situation that it didn’t identify. Nortel shares fell 13 percent to 10 cents.

West Energy Ltd. (WTL CN): The oil and gas exploration company and other firms that will own about C$32 billion ($25.7 billion) in new notes following a swap in Canada say they’ll hold on to the debt for as long as eight years rather than sell it at “fire sale” prices to hedge funds.

West Energy is among more than 100 companies that expect to receive the notes in the next week in exchange for insolvent 30- to 90-day commercial paper that hasn’t traded since 2007. West Energy rose 1.1 percent to C$1.85. Transat A.T. Inc. (TRZ/B CN), another company that will hold the new notes, fell 2.8 percent to C$10.12

To contact the reporter on this story: John Kipphoff in Toronto at jkipphoff@bloomberg.net.