Ever-increasing demand for oil, along with shrinking numbers of assets for sale in Canadian public auctions, is continuing to heat competition for assets. Producers are paying more than C$70,000 per flowing barrel of oil equivalent (BOE) for properties, according to Calgary-based investment-banking firm Sayers Energy Advisors. "The small amount of publicly announced assets for sale currently on the market, or announced to be on the market in the short term, indicates that buyers will need to be aggressive in order to secure production through acquisitions via the public auction process," says Brent Heinz, vice president with the firm. "Currently only approximately 40,000 BOE of production is publicly available for sale via property and corporate sales." Less daily production has been sale midyear for the past two years, with 65,000 BOE for sale by the end of June 2005, a shortage compared with the end of June 2004 when there was some 200,000 barrels for sale. For more on this, see the August issue of Oil and Gas Investor. For a subscription, call 713-260-6441.