The Long Lake project in Alberta, a joint venture of Opti Canada and Nexen
Shares of OPTI Canada Inc. , a junior partner in the Long Lake oil sands project in Alberta, jumped by more than a third Wednesday in heavy trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The Calgary-based oil sands developer's shares climbed 57 cents to close at $2.25, a jump of just under 34 per cent, in massive trading of 21 million shares, making it one of the most active stocks on Canada's largest stock exchange.
The reason for investors' sudden interest in OPTI wasn't immediately clear, although the company had made a bullish presentation on Tuesday morning at a major oil and gas conference in Calgary.
OPTI is also frequently the subject of takeover rumours that tend to make its shares volatile.
The runup in Opti's stock price began Wednesday about 11 a.m. ET and gained momentum over the next two hours, reaching an intraday peak of $2.42 shortly after 1 p.m. ET.
Shares of Nexen Inc. - a larger and more diversified oil and gas company that is OPTI's partner in the Long Lake project - were up 19 cents Wednesday, a gain of about 1 per cent to $25.69.
The TSX energy sector was up 0.75 of a percentage point while the price of crude oil was up $1.58 (U.S.) to $72.51.
On Tuesday, OPTI president and chief executive officer Chris Slubicki told a session at the Peters & Co. oil and gas conference that he was "more bullish today" than when he took on his current role in April.
He acknowledged that OPTI, which has a 35 per cent interest in the Long Lake project, has had a rough road to travel for the past year amid the economic downturn and technical problems.
The Long Lake upgrader has been shut down to correct a problem with its water treatment system but Mr. Slubicki said that new valves and filtration equipment that's being installed will help increase steam production and bitumen extraction.
"It's not very sexy to talk about steam . . . but at the end of the day, it's all about the steam. And our issue in startup has been one issue all along and that is the ability to treat water. It's more complex that we had envisioned," Mr. Slubicki said.
He said OPTI has a more difficult situation to face than other steam-assisted gravity drainage but "at the end of the day, it is water - and those problems can be solved."
The upgrader is expected to restart later this month, he said.