‘Armageddon’ in the oil patch

CALGARY — Jeffery Tonken has lost a fortune over the past six weeks.

“It’s Armageddon out there,” Mr. Tonken, the chief executive officer of junior oil and gas company Birchcliff Energy Ltd., said yesterday.

“I’ve lost millions. Everyone has.”

The value of Canada’s energy companies has been devastated since oil plunged from record levels in the summer. Among the 58 companies in the S&P/TSX capped energy index, about $110-billion in market value has been wiped out in the past six weeks, calculations show.

…”Buy some ammunition, go to the hills and hide,” said William Lacey, an analyst at FirstEnergy Capital Corp.

“We’ve gone beyond doomsday scenarios. There’s no logic any more and this is an outright capitulation. Investors are simply throwing up their hands and saying ‘I’m out,’ ” he said.

Globe and Mail