HOUSTON, March 11 (Reuters) - Kimmeridge Energy

Management will pursue more activism among Canadian oil and gas

producers, a senior executive told Reuters on Tuesday, as it

targets underperforming companies and potential benefits

emanating from the trade war with the United States.

President Donald Trump has ratcheted up tariffs on his

country's northern neighbor, although Canadian oil and gas

exports to the U.S. have so far received fewer penalties.

The tensions should instigate fresh thinking to boost

Canadian energy exports, especially of liquefied natural gas, to

other countries, according to Kimmeridge managing partner Mark

Viviano. He said that would benefit operators' valuations in the

long term.

"Ultimately, we think (tariffs and the trade war are) going

to be long-term positive for the Canadian industry, because it

will force them to look outside the U.S. and diversify their

export markets into Asia," Viviano said in an interview on the

sidelines of the CERAWeek conference.

Kimmeridge last week struck a settlement with Advantage

Energy ( AAVVF ), after the Calgary, Alberta-based oil and gas

producer named two new independent directors and set up a

special committee to study a possible sale of the company.

Viviano said Kimmeridge expects to make further investments,

given Canada's upstream industry is ripe for activism, although

it has no current positions in Canada outside of Advantage.

"We think that it needs to be consolidated, given how

fragmented the industry is, and we think we have a number of

poor-performing management teams and boards which are

preoccupied with growing production instead of generating

shareholder value," he said.

Kimmeridge has been a leading force in pursuing activism in

the U.S. oil and gas sector in recent years, targeting many of

the same issues Viviano sees prevalent in Canada today.

It has been on the sidelines in the U.S. for the last year,

however, and currently owns only one U.S. producer, Expand

Energy ( EXE ), due to legacy positions in Chesapeake Energy and

Southwestern Energy prior to their merger to create Expand.

Slumping U.S. equity markets, combined with lower crude

prices, have pushed down valuations of many small and mid-sized

U.S. producers by more than 20% in the last month.

"Clearly we're seeing a significant amount of volatility and

a tremendous amount of underperformance in some of the smaller

and mid-sized exploration and production companies," Viviano

said.

"So we have capital to put to work, and we think the market

is coming our way."