Hedging, Hedge Accounting and Speculation: Evidence from Canadian Oil and Gas Companies

Using archival data, this paper presents the results of analyzing a sample of twelve primarily oil and gas, western Canadian energy firms and their use of financial derivatives to manage commodity price risk. The firms range in size from small to large based on total assets. All twelve companies document and disclose their risk strategies and derivative products they use to manage risk. Regardless of size, all companies make use of common commodity price risk strategies using derivatives. The large energy companies are more likely to utilize hedge accounting than are their small and mid-sized peers. All companies, except for the largest ones, claim they do not use derivatives to speculate. However, by clarifying the definition of speculation, all of the energy firms attempt derivative speculation to a different extent.