Oil companies surprisingly raise $365-million

Here's something you don't see often: $365-million worth of equity financings for oil and gas companies on a day when crude is down two bucks, and everything from the Toronto Stock Exchange to gold took a tumble.

Yet three firms -- Celtic Exploration Ltd. , CGX Energy Inc. and Arcan Resources Ltd. -- all took the risk. And it paid off. Celtic's common share offering was even upsized by $150-million this morning.

How did these three get so lucky? There doesn't appear to be a common thread. Each company has its own story. Celtic, for instance, reported strong drilling results this morning, and issued the equity on the back of them. As for Arcan, there has been a lot of chatter around the name of late, especially after Crescent Point increased its stake in the company to about 20 per cent in July.

Some smart timing was also involved. Arcan and CGX both waited until the afternoon to launch, which means they saw Celtic's success. Surely the pitch from bankers included a line like "Celtic rocked it, you can too."

Celtic was co-led by FirstEnergy and RBC while Cormark led CGX and RBC led Arcan.