Penn West Exploration
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 Penn West Exploration facts

• (previously known as Penn West Energy Trust) — still referred to as Penn West Petroleum in the media — was a prominent mid-sized Canadian oil and natural gas production company based in Calgary, Alberta
• For a while it was one of the S&P/TSX 60, the sixty largest companies on the Toronto Stock Exchange
• From 2005-2011 it was a Canadian royalty trust (CANROY), and as such did not pay federal income taxes
• With a market capitalization in January 2008 of approximately US $9
• 5 billion, it was the largest oil and gas energy trust in North America
• Penn West Exploration was previously an independent exploration and production company named as Penn West Petroleum Ltd
• In May 2005, it converted into an income trust and operated under the trade name as Penn West Energy Trust
• This was an entity which pays the majority of its earnings directly to shareholders (known as "unitholders" in a trust), in the form of dividends
• Penn West has acquired several other income trusts since reorganizing as a trust in 2005: Vault, Canetic, and Petrofund
• These acquisitions made it the single largest energy trust on the continent