OTTAWA -- It's getting to be cheaper to drill for oil in industry boardrooms than in the world's far-flung oil fields. With crude prices slumping dramatically, oil companies have seen their share prices hit bargain-basement levels, providing a tempting target for cash-rich predators that are eager to boost their reserves. "We expect a lot of mergers and acquisitions in the next 12 months," Fadel Gheit, analyst with New York-based Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., said in an interview.

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