Cabot Energy obtains CCAA protection in Calgary

Cabot Energy Inc. obtained protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act on December 9, 2025, after the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta granted an Initial Order commencing proceedings and imposing an initial 10-day stay of proceedings.

Cabot is a Calgary-based upstream oil and gas producer with operations concentrated in the Rainbow Lake area of Northern Alberta, where it operates approximately 20 producing oil wells and 15 shallow gas wells used for fuel gas, producing about 200 barrels of oil per day. The company is incorporated in British Columbia and registered extra-provincially in Alberta, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of High Power Petroleum (NOP) UK Limited, part of the Blue Spark Energy Services Group.

Cabot attributes its financial distress to a combination of sustained low commodity prices, repeated natural disasters including floods in 2022 and wildfires in 2023 and 2025, and rising asset retirement obligations. Several wells were destroyed by wildfires, reducing production by roughly one-third, and the company lacked capital to restore output. Although Cabot reported slightly positive cash flow for the year ended December 31, 2024, its position deteriorated thereafter and it became unable to meet obligations as they fell due.

As at December 31, 2024, Cabot reported total liabilities of approximately $81.3 million, including about $54.1 million owing under long-term debt originally advanced by High Power Petroleum LLC and later assigned within the Blue Spark group. Trade payables were approximately $1.6 million as of October 17, 2025, and the company advised that its parent would not fund a turnaround outside a court-supervised process.

The purpose of the CCAA proceedings is to pursue a proposed sales and investment solicitation process, funded by anticipated debtor-in-possession financing from the parent corporate group. Sayer Energy Advisors has been retained to run the sales process, and Cabot seeks to maintain operations on a going-concern basis during the process where possible.

KSV Restructuring Inc. was appointed as monitor, with Stikeman Elliott LLP acting as counsel to Cabot and Bennett Jones LLP acting as counsel to the monitor.