Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. CNQ-T +1.70%increase, the country’s largest energy company, is poised to purchase a $1-billion-plus portfolio of Alberta natural gas properties from Tourmaline Oil Corp. TOU-T -0.05%decrease
Canadian Natural filed the paperwork for federal Competition Bureau approval of a transaction with Tourmaline on Dec. 30, according to arecent notification published by the bureau. However, the regulator and the Calgary-based companies did not disclose details of the potential deal.
Canadian Natural is in talks to acquire a natural gas business in Alberta’s Peace River region that Tourmaline put up for sale in November, according to two sources familiar with the negotiations. The Globe is not naming the sources because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the talks.
Last year, analysts estimated the portfolio could fetch up to $1.4-billion. Canadian Natural also owns gas wells and energy infrastructure in the area.
Tourmaline’s Peace River operations include 2,428 horizontal wells, 34 gas plants and 15,500 kilometres of pipelines.
Canadian Natural is seeking preliminary regulatory feedback on a potential acquisition of the Tourmaline assets prior to announcing a purchase, the sources said.
Tourmaline said it would not comment on the sale process of its Peace River assets before its first-quarter report, which is slated for March 4.Canadian Natural also declined to comment on the regulatory filing.
Canadian Natural is the largest player in Alberta’s oil sands, with a $95-billion market capitalization. The company is also one of the country’s largest natural gas producers after a series of acquisitions in recent years.
Canadian Natural uses a significant amount of natural gas – 32 per cent of what it produces – in its oil sands refineries. It exports 33 per cent of its natural gas production and sells the remainder in domestic markets.
In a recent investor presentation, the company said the combination of improvements in drilling technology, and its Alberta network of pipelines and other energy infrastructure, offers a “significant opportunity to grow its liquids-rich natural gas assets.”
The application to the federal competition watchdog suggests that the scale of Canadian Natural’s potential acquisition requires regulatory approval, a relatively common development when companies in mature sectors such as energy buy businesses from peers.
CEO Mike Rose and others continue to buy as Tourmaline Oil rallies
Tourmaline, one of the country’s largest natural gas producers, is selling the Peace River assets to raise money for expansion of its operations in northeastern British Columbia’s Montney region. The area has the largest potential reserves of any North American natural gas play, with 45 years of drilling inventory at current rates of exploration.
Tourmaline, which has a $17-billion market capitalization, is working on one of the largest expansion projects in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, of which the Montney region is a part of, and aiming to increase total production to 850,000 barrels a day by early next decade.
Tourmaline’s sale of its Peace River assets is expected to lower its operational expenses this year by roughly 7 per cent, ATB Financial said in its 2026 oil and gas outlook.
Output from the liquids-rich Montney basin, which straddles northeastern B.C. and northwestern Alberta, has helped Canadian natural gas production hit record highs over the past few years. In 2024, average daily production was 18.3 billion cubic feet a day.
Interest in the Montney basin has been piqued by the launch of the LNG Canada export terminal in Kitimat, B.C., in June, 2025, combined with the fact the basin provides some of the most economic production in Canada.
While ATB forecast a slowdown in mergers and acquisitions in the Canadian oil and gas sector in 2026, it said that value is still being recognized in transactions in the Montney basin, including Kiwetinohk Energy Corp.’s corporate sale to Cygnet Energy Ltd. late last year in a transaction with an enterprise value (equity and debt) of $1.4-billion.
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