Canada: Producers cut proved reserves and watch share prices fall

NEW, TOUGHER disclosure rules have sent a chill through the Canadian oil and gas industry, with a parade of senior producers cutting their proved reserves and watching the sharpest drop in their share values in two years. In the first wave of downgrading, Husky Energy chopped 13% off its reserves, including 131.6bn cubic feet (cf) of Canadian gas and 142.9bn cf of Indonesian gas; Nexen removed 67m barrels of oil equivalent (boe), or 8%, from its worldwide reserves, including 19m boe of gas; Petro-Canada lowered its reserves by 5%, or 70m boe, with 39m boe coming from North American gas; and Shell Canada, for the third time in three years, scaled back its 31.3% stake in Nova Scotia's Sable ga