Category:

Canada’s Imperial Oil Considering Sale of Esso-Branded Fuel Stations

Exxon Mobil Corp. ’s Canadian subsidiary said Wednesday that it was considering the sale of its remaining company-owned Esso-branded retail fuel stations to independent third-party operators. Calgary-based Imperial Oil Ltd. said most of its 1,700 Esso sites in Canada already operate under that model, which sees the company supply fuel to third parties who own and/or operate the sites under the Esso banner. The move announced Wednesday covers the remaining 500 company-owned sites, and will involve a nonbinding bid process, it said. The integrated energy company also said it would look at options for the On the Run convenience-store brand in Canada. Quebec-based Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. acquired about 450 of Exxon’s On the Run convenience stores in the U.S. in 2009. “Esso has a long, successful history as a leading retailer of high-quality fuels,” said Brad Merkel, vice president of fuels and lubricants at Imperial Oil. “This evaluation will […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Top Canadian oil producer cuts spending

One of Canada’s top oil producer, Cenovus, cutting spending plans as national energy sector slows. (UPI/Shutterstock/ekina) CALGARY, Alberta, Jan. 28 (UPI) — Canada’s second-largest oil producer, Cenovus Energy, said Wednesday it was cutting its capital expenditures for 2015 deeper than originally planned. The company in December said it was trimming its capital spending plan by 15 percent to $2 billion. With oil prices off roughly 30 percent since then, the company said it was cutting the projected spending again to around $1.5 billion. Cenovus President and Chief Executive Officer Brian Ferguson said the company has the flexibility to make further cuts without compromising growth objectives . "Our plan is to continue to pursue our long-term growth strategy, but at a pace we believe is more in line with the current pricing environment," he said in a statement. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers said last week oil production nation-wide […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Canada hit hard by falling oil prices

Canadian oil group says it expects decline in commodity prices will have widespread impacts on sectors and economies. UPI/Gary C. Caskey CALGARY, Alberta, Jan. 22 (UPI) — Canadian oil production is expected to drop by more than 100,000 barrels per day because of slumping oil prices, an industry group forecasts. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers said in a short-term review it expects oil production to decline by 65,000 bpd this year and 120,000 bpd in 2016. CAPP President Tim McMillan said weak oil prices present a challenge across a wide range of sectors and economies in Canada. "Investors have seen their portfolios shrink. And governments will see reduced revenues from the industry’s royalty and tax payments," he said in a Wednesday statement. "We all will feel the effects." Because of the complexities involved with bringing some of the more viscous forms of Canadian crude oil to the surface, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Suncor Executive Says Growth Plans Based on Bullish Crude Price Outlook

A senior Suncor Energy Inc. executive said Wednesday the company won’t delay its biggest long-term growth projects because it expects crude oil prices to double from current levels within the next three to four years. “In the longer term, oil is going to go back to $90-$100,” Alister Cowan, the oil sands producer’s chief financial officer, told investors attending a Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce conference in Whistler, British Columbia, saying that prices would rebound to that level “probably in three years or four years’ time.” That bullish outlook echoes recent comments by CEO Steve Williams, who has said he also expects oil prices to climb back to the lofty levels of last summer. U.S. oil for March delivery traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled Wednesday at $47.78 a barrel. Oil prices have tumbled more than 55% since June, with the steepest decline following the Organization of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Gas exports down for Canada

Canadian energy sector getting pinched by low commodity prices and the U.S. shale boom. Photo by Kodda/Shutterstock The Canadian government said exports of natural gas to the United States were 5 percent lower year-on-year thanks in part to the U.S. shale boom. Pipeline exports to the United States averaged 7.3 billion cubic feet per day during the first 10 months of last year, a 5 percent decline from the same period in 2013. "Exports have declined steadily since 2008," the National Energy Board said in a Thursday release. "A combination of factors contributed to this, the largest being the emergence of highly productive shale gas plays in the U.S. located close to markets traditionally served in part by Canadian exports." Canadian leaders have said that, with the United States relying more and more on its own energy reserves, it’s time to start courting potential Asian consumers. Analysis published last […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Suncor Cuts Jobs, Spending as Oil Rout Rattles Canada

Suncor Energy Inc. (SU) , Canada ’s largest oil company, said it will cut 1,000 jobs, lower its 2015 capital budget by about 13 percent and delay projects to weather collapsing prices. The company will spend C$1 billion ($836 million) less this year than originally forecast in November, following Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (CNQ) in revising its budget lower this week. Suncor also plans to reduce operating expenses by C$600 million to C$800 million in two years, according to a company statement today. “Cost management has been an ongoing focus, with successful efforts to reduce both capital and operating costs well underway before the decline in oil prices ,” Steve Williams , Suncor’s chief executive officer, said in the statement. “In today’s low crude price environment, it’s essential we accelerate this work.” The cuts are the latest blow to Canada’s energy industry and economy as plummeting prices reverberate in […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Canadian Natural Slashes Spending, Production Targets

CALGARY— Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. , one of Canada’s largest oil and gas producers, cut its full-year capital spending plans and production forecast on Monday, citing the rapid drop in crude oil prices since setting its initial 2015 budget in early November. The Calgary-based company said it would spend 6.2 billion Canadian dollars ($5.25 billion) on growth projects, down from an earlier target of C$8.6 billion, and increase production of crude oil and natural gas liquids about 7% over 2014 levels, down from an earlier projection of around 11% growth. The moves come after the Canadian unit of Royal Dutch Shell PLC on Friday said it would cut up to 10% of its oil sands mining workforce due to lower crude prices. The slump in global oil prices is expected to trim profit and slow growth at many energy producers, especially those with higher cost operations. Canadian Natural said […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

As Oil Slips Below $50, Canada Digs In for Long Haul

ENLARGE A machine works at the Suncor Energy Inc. mine near Fort McMurray, Alberta, on June 19, 2014. Bloomberg News CALGARY—In the escalating war of attrition among top oil-producing nations, Canada’s biggest oil-sands mines have a message for the market: Don’t look to us to cut production. Long the unloved stepchild of so-called unconventional crude production, the oil sands have lured some of the world’s top energy producers to a remote corner of Northern Alberta where the heavy oil deposits are richest. There, they have plowed billions of dollars into building up a sprawling industrial complex amid the surrounding forests. And even as oil prices settled below $50 a barrel Monday for the first time in nearly six years, those companies are unlikely to shut off the tap anytime soon thanks to those huge upfront costs, combined with long-term break-even points and lengthy production lives. Unlike shale oil, which […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Shell’s Canadian Oil-Sands Operations to Cut Jobs Amid Crude Oil Price Swoon

By Chester Dawson CALGARY-Royal Dutch Shell PLC said Friday it plans to cut jobs at its Canadian oil-sands operations, becoming the first major energy company to shed workers in Canada’s oil patch amid a recent swoon in global crude oil prices. Shell, which produces 250,000 barrels of oil a day from its oil-sands mines, will trim about 2% of its 3,000 workers, or about 60 positions, some of whom will be reassigned to other jobs, said company spokesman Cameron Yost. "We’re continuing to review our business to make sure that we remain competitive," Mr. Yost said. "When prices are low the importance of that is underlined," he said. The president of Shell Canada, Lorraine Mitchelmore, said in August that the company’s oil-sands business met internal yardsticks for profitability when Brent crude trades above $70 per barrel. Prices for Brent, the global oil benchmark, have spiraled lower in recent weeks, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Oil price slump hits Canadian producer

Canadian oil company Arc Resources to unload shares to help fund operations during low oil price conditions. (UPI Photo/Roger L. Wollenberg) CALGARY, Alberta, Jan. 8 (UPI) — Canadian energy company ARC Resources Ltd. said it plans to sell more than 15 million shares to raise capital to fund operations in the slumping oil market. ARC in mid-2014 rolled out an $875 million capital program for this year that envisioned oil priced at around $80 per barrel, about 35 percent higher than the current market price. In a statement Wednesday, the company said it plans to sell 15.5 million shares to raise around $350 million to fund developments in 2015 . "ARC plans to execute a $750 million capital program in 2015, reduced from the previously announced $875 million capital budget, due to the continued deterioration in commodity prices," it said. The company last year set a production target of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple