The competition for new listings from U.S. oil and gas companies has intensified, as representatives from the London AIM, Nasdaq and Toronto Stock Exchange have recently pitched the benefits of their respective exchanges to Houston executives.

Negotiations between U.S. and Canadian regulators, meanwhile, signal more interaction between the two countries' exchanges in the near future, making it much easier for dual listings and for investors to buy and sell equities between the various exchanges.

The latest road show was held by Toronto, which is the third-largest exchange in the world, after the New York and London stock exchanges. Some 50% of the world's public energy companies already list in Toronto, either on the main exchange (TSE) or the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX).

"At March 31, we had 438 oil and gas listings...versus 131 on AIM, 116 on the NYSE and 66 on the American Stock Exchange," said Rik Parkhill, executive vice president of the TSX Group and president of TSX Markets.

Seven new international oil and gas firms, including four from the U.S., listed on one of these exchanges in 2006. Denver-based Storm Cat Energy Corp. (Toronto: SME) moved to the big exchange in June after having its IPO on the Toronto Venture Exchange in December 2003, raising an aggregate $65 million in Toronto.

"Our U.S. trading volume is going through the roof," said Kevan Cowan, president of TSX. "In institutional trading we have tremendous flow."

Cowan and Parkhill admitted that for retail investors, it is still difficult to trade, although possible. A Canadian official told them, however, that may change as soon as before the end of the Bush Administration.

Talks are ongoing between the U.S. SEC, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Toronto regulators about amending accounting rules and trading regulations to enable investors on both sides of the border to more freely trade equities, Cowan said.

"You can freely trade oil and gas across the border, but you can't buy securities? Where is NAFTA when you need it?" joked Parkhill.

Kip Ferguson III, president of Houston-based Sharon Resources Inc. (Toronto Venture: SHY), said, "If this is opened up, there will be a huge rush of trading in all the stocks, if crossborder trading is approved."

Why list in Toronto as opposed to a U.S. market? Houston physician Donald Kramer, chief executive officer of Northstar Healthcare Inc., (Toronto Venture: NHC) explained why. Since his IPO in May 2007, NHC is up 22%.

"The regulatory environment in Canada is familiar and comfortable, as in the U.S., but governance is not as burdensome. We have easy access to the financial community in Toronto. It is about the same as flying to New York from Houston. I can be in and out easily."

Kramer said Canadian capital markets are strong, with the broad index up 90% in the past five years versus 50% for the S&P 500.

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