Canadian Oil Mafia (#COM)

Background

The Canadian Oil Mafia (#COM) states its mission as “To have a positive impact educating others on the Generational Opportunity in the Canadian Energy Industry” and to promote “awareness of the Canadian Oil and Gas sector.”¹

The group consists of number of investors in the Canadian oil sector who believe that “renewable energy sources can’t deliver on their promises as soon as many had hoped,” according to a post by Nathan Worden,² community manager at Commonstock, a company that describes itself as “a social network that amplifies the knowledge of the best investors.”³

“Shubham Garg and Sohaib Abbas are the duo spearheading the #CanadianOilMafia movement. They have been publishing their research and hosting frequent twitter spaces to sound the alarm on the incoming energy crisis. They aim to raise awareness about how egregiously low Canadian Oil equities are currently priced at in light of energy demand. One of their Twitter spaces which focused on addressing ‘energy ignorance’ lasted a herculean 14 hours and had ~18,000 listeners between the live & replay format,” he wrote.

Its assets appear to be a currently-defunct Shopify website selling merchandise with pro-oil slogans. Abbas has himself appeared wearing a hoodie“⁴ with the “I Love Canadian Oil and Gas” slogan sold on items by Canada Action,⁵ and Abbas has claimed they shared merchandise “with the blessings of” Cody Battershill.⁶

Canadian Oil Mafia holds events regularly on Twitter Spaces and supporters often post with the #COM hashtag on Twitter. Some posts describe it as a “tweeter network.”

Stance on Climate Change

December 31, 2021

Responding to a comment on Twitter, Shubham Garg said “People are dying from energy poverty, not due to a 1 degree change in temperature.”⁷

Funding

The Canadian Oil Mafia does not list its funding sources, apart from its web store.

Key People

In his summary of Canadian Oil Mafia, Nathan Worden listed the “ring-leaders of the movement” as Shubham Garg and Sohaib Abbas.

Sohaib Abbas — Describes himself as an “energy advocate” and “full time investor based out of Calgary” on LinkedIn. Abbas was briefly an accountant with KPMG Canada. He writes he “can be found on twitter regularly conversating with others in the Energy Finance Twitter community.”
Shubham Garg — An oil and gas investor managing White Tundra Investments based in Calgary, Alberta. The company’s portfolio is “focused on undervalued Canadian Oil & Gas E&P’.” He previously worked with other oil and resource companies such as Tourmaline Oil Corporation and Canadian Natural Resources Limited.⁸
Mark Skittle — listed as a co-host on at least one Twitter Space. One of his Twitter accounts is listed as suspended, however he appears to have created another. *Identity needs further confirmation.
Adam Woodward — On contract with Peterson Capital, and founder of The Big Give Project, which coordinated with Canadian Oil Mafia.⁹ Woodward attended at least one event with Sohaib Abbas, who also helped supply apparel, according to Abbas on Twitter.¹⁰

Woodward shared a post on LinkedIn indicating both his coordination with the group.¹¹

“Sohaib is a game changer imo. His willingness to learn, to ask questions, and to stand up for what he believes in is a tremendous inspiration (for me). His ethic, working harder than most, shapes his future,” Woodward commented on LinkedIn.

“I look forward to our Canadian Oil Mafia #COM Fundraiser at Cowboys next week (July 14th). I am excited and proud to say that this young man I met many years ago as a Coach will be leading and mediating #inspiration the Peterson Capital Energy Panel that day and applaud Sohaib’s efforts.”