Canada

The U.S. company whose runaway oil tanker train exploded and killed 47 people in a small Quebec town in July can operate trains through Oct. 18, Canadian regulators said on Thursday in a ruling that prolongs a temporary extension by about two weeks, Reuters reported. But the Canadian Transportation Agency said it had not yet decided whether to grant a request from Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway and its Canadian subsidiary for permission to continue operations until Jan. 15, 2014. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in August, just weeks after the Lac-Megantic disaster.

Long-suffering shareholders of debt-laden junior gas producer Lone Pine Resources Inc. will be left with nothing under a deal struck with its noteholders to trade debt for stock, The Calgary Herald reported. The agreement announced Wednesday, which requires court approval, would result in shareholders having their stock cancelled without compensation while holders of the Calgary company’s debt instruments will wind up in full control.

The process of selling the bankrupt railway whose runaway train killed 47 people in Quebec is under way and the company’s trustee hopes to complete a deal by year’s end, The Globe and Mail reported. Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway has made no secret that the railway’s sale will be necessary to repay creditors and victims following the July 6 disaster in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec. Railway trustee Robert Keach said Thursday that he’s already been approached by “several” potential buyers.

The adoption of cross-border protocols by judges in Canada and the U.S. on Wednesday will allow the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway bankruptcy to move forward so that the victims of the Lac-Megantic train disaster may receive compensation as quickly as possible, the trustee assigned to oversee the case said, Bangor Daily News reported. “The U.S. case and the Canadian case are being administered primarily for the victims,” Robert Keach, a Portland lawyer who was appointed Aug. 22 to serve as trustee during the bankruptcy proceeding, said after a hearing in Bangor.

The rail company whose oil tanker train blew up in a Quebec town last month, killing 47 people, will be allowed to continue operating through Oct. 1 after providing insurance documentation demanded by Canadian authorities, Reuters reported. The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) said on Friday it would let Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway (MMA) and its Canadian subsidiary keep trains moving for now. Earlier this month it had ordered MMA to cease operations, saying the railway lacked adequate insurance.

A U.S. court has approved a multimillion-dollar settlement in a securities fraud class-action lawsuit against a bankrupt energy exploration company for which embattled Sen. Pamela Wallin was a director, The Globe and Mail reported. Between June 2007 and December 2011, Wallin was a paid member of the board of Oilsands Quest Inc., a Calgary-based exploration company. As a director, the Saskatchewan senator was named in the lawsuit along with fellow board members, TD Securities and Calgary consulting firm McDaniel and Associates.

Canadian Pacific Railway has been ordered by a federal agency to resume the transfer of cargo traffic to Montreal Maine and Atlantic Railway, CTV News reported on a Canadian Press story. Calgary-based CP had expressed concerns about the "fitness" of the insolvent short-haul railroad to safely handle hazardous substances in light of the deadly derailment and crash last month that devastated Lac-Megantic, Que.

The insolvency of one of Canada’s largest and oldest contracting firms is having a ripple effect on companies in Sudbury and across Northern Ontario, NorthernLife.ca reported. The Comstock Group of Burlington is under bankruptcy protection and a number of Sudbury-area industrial suppliers, engineering firms, equipment rental and fabrication shops, which worked as service firms on projects in Sudbury and across Canada, have been hit particularly hard. Forty-two Sudbury-area companies showed up on a list of unsecured creditors owed greater than $1,000.

Lone Pine Resources Inc. failed to make a US$10.1-million, semi-annual interest payment on its senior secured notes Thursday, setting the clock ticking on a possible default the could force the natural gas and light oil developer to seek protection from creditors, Stockhouse reported. The company, incorporated in Delaware but headquartered in Calgary, said failure by Lone Pine Resources Canada Ltd. to make the payment will result in default on the 10.375 per cent senior notes maturing in 2017 unless remedied within 30 days.

The Canadian province of Quebec has ordered Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd to help pay clean-up costs after a train disaster that killed 47 people and said on Thursday the company has no choice in the matter. The disaster, North America's deadliest rail crash in two decades, destroyed the center of the Quebec town of Lac-Megantic last month after a runaway oil tanker train derailed on a curve and exploded. Crews are still cleaning up the 1.48 million U.S. gallons (5.6 million liters) of oil that spilled. "Let's be clear.