The point of the company is not the Alberta hub
Tourmaline Oil (TSX: TOU) reported second-quarter 2026 results on July 29. Cash flow was $786.1 million, or $2.02 a fully diluted share. Free cash flow was $192.1 million. Production averaged 594,198 barrels of oil equivalent a day, a touch under the 595,000 to 605,000 guide, because the company put more gas into storage and deferred activity while AECO was cheap. Storage injections at Dimsdale, Dawn, and Wild Goose averaged 8,867 boe a day. Those volumes are slated to come back in the fourth quarter and the first quarter of 2027.
The new commercial line is liquids. Tourmaline signed a long-term agreement with AltaGas to move more propane and butane through the Ridley Island Energy Export Facility. Combined with existing RIPET capacity, the company says premium LPG export exposure rises about 55 percent after the Groundbirch-Monias deep-cut plant starts. Product would go by a planned unit train from that plant, skipping some Fort Saskatchewan frac, storage, and loading fees. Groundbirch-Monias is still under construction. The 55 percent is a later number.
Why the realized price is the story
Tourmaline's average realized gas price in the quarter was C$3.12 per Mcf. AECO 5A averaged C$1.66. The gap is the marketing book: hedges, U.S. west-coast sales, and LNG-linked TTF and JKM exposure. The company said it has 1,014 million cubic feet a day hedged for the rest of 2026 at a weighted C$4.97, including 100 million at a weighted C$16.25 in international markets. Full-year production is still guided at 620,000 to 640,000 boe a day, with a 660,000 exit including storage withdrawals.
On August 6 the TSX approved a renewed normal-course issuer bid. From August 10, 2026 to August 9, 2027, Tourmaline can buy up to 15,544,068 shares, 4 percent of the July 31 count. The last bid allowed more shares. The company bought none of them.
Neutral read
TOU is on the listed producer list. This is the Canadian gas desk in one issuer. AECO is cheap. The company is paid something else because it sold the molecule somewhere else. That works until the hedge book rolls off or the LNG-linked contracts do not deliver. REEF and RIPET are AltaGas terminals, not Tourmaline plants. The 55 percent LPG lift waits on Groundbirch-Monias. The NCIB is permission, not a purchase. Last year's authorization sat unused. Watch whether they actually buy stock this time, whether Aitken starts in the fourth quarter, and whether winter withdrawals show up in the production print.