Category: Canada

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the country’s energy industry was resilient and could survive the stresses caused by plunging crude oil prices. DELTA, British Columbia, Jan 8 (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Thursday said the country’s energy industry was resilient and would survive the stresses caused by plunging crude oil prices. Harper also told reporters that while lower prices would have a significant impact on oil-producing provinces, consumers would enjoy the benefit. Benchmark prices for crude have halved over the past six months, posing a particular challenge for oil producers. "As rapid a negative a change that this is for the industry, the industry, even in my lifetime, has lived through changes this extreme and more on many occasions," Harper told reporters during an event in British Columbia. "This not without precedent. It’s a resilient industry and it will see its way clear to a […]

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Canadian oil producer Crescent Point Energy Corp. on Tuesday cut its capital-spending budget for 2015 by 28% from 2014 levels due to slumping oil prices, and said it is pursuing options to cut costs. Calgary, Alberta-based Crescent Point, like many of its peers in the oil patch, is scaling back spending plans to combat the more-than-50% drop in oil prices since last June. U.S. prices briefly fell below $50 a barrel Monday for the first time since April 2009, and continued to slide Tuesday , recently trading below $49 a barrel. Surging oil production in North America and a decline in global demand have led energy producers to rethink investment plans. In mid-December, Crescent Point’s Canadian peers, Husky Energy Inc. and Penn West Petroleum Ltd. , reduced capital-spending plans for 2015 due to the dramatic plunge in oil prices. Crescent Point, which called its budget plans “conservative and disciplined,” […]

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Canada oil map Brace for a bumpy ride, Canada and Alberta, says Stanford expert Terry Lynn Karl. Canada and global oil image via shutterstock . Reproduced on Resilience.org with permission. What do the plummeting oil prices tell us not only about our near term economic future in Canada, but the political fragility of the world’s petro states? If Canada fully joins the petro state club, as our prime minister and his party desire, is oil’s volatility just the cost of doing business, or a threat to our nation’s well-being? The ideal person to ask is Terry Lynn Karl, one of North America’s foremost experts on the politics of oil. The Tyee recently caught up with Karl, who teaches at Stanford University and lives in San Francisco. Asked in a wide ranging interview what Canadians might expect if oil prices stay low for a few years, she predicted "a rapidly […]

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URL: http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/136417/Canadian_Oil_Producers_Slash_2015_Capital_Budgets Canadian oil producers Husky Energy and Penn West Petroleum slash their 2015 capital budgets due to a slide in crude oil prices. CALGARY, Alberta, Dec 17 (Reuters) – Canadian oil producers deepened 2015 spending cuts on Wednesday, as Husky Energy , MEG Energy and Penn West Petroleum joined those hacking back capital budgets in response to tumbling crude prices. Penn West, one of Canada’s largest conventional oil producers, also cut its dividend to 3 Canadian cents per share from 14 Canadian cents. The three are the latest in a growing list of Canadian oil companies to clamp down on investment plans for next year. Others include Cenovus Energy, Tourmaline Oil Corp and Canadian Oil Sands Ltd, the largest-interest owner in the Syncrude oil sands project. Late on Tuesday Whitecap Resources also dialed back its 2015 budget and reduced the number of wells it is planning to drill, […]

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A host of Canadian oil producers said Wednesday that they were paring capital spending plans as an uncertain outlook caused by lower oil prices rocks the industry. Husky Energy Inc. and Penn West Petroleum Ltd. were among the Calgary-based companies that said they would reduce capital investment next year following the dramatic plunge in oil prices in recent weeks. Surging oil production in North America, coupled with a decline in global demand, has led many energy producers to rethink their investment plans for the coming year. Oil prices have fallen more than 50% since June. Prices for light, sweet crude closed up 54 cents, or about 1%, at $56.47 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday. Husky Energy said it plans to cut capital spending 33% to 3.4 billion Canadian dollars ($2.9 billion) in 2015. It also projected total 2015 production of between 325,000 and 355,000 […]

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OTTAWA—Canada will get its landlocked crude oil to foreign markets other than the U.S., although the marketplace will ultimately decide the fate of pipeline projects to run through the country, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Wednesday. In an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., Mr. Harper said planned pipelines such as Enbridge Inc. ’s Northern Gateway, Kinder Morgan Inc. ’s expansion of its Trans Mountain corridor and TransCanada Corp. ’s Energy East must obtain approval from regulators before they can proceed. Once approval is granted, “I think it’s ultimately up to the marketplace” whether the projects proceed, he said. “There’s the market process and there’s a scientific evaluation process, and those are directed by others” and not the government. Regardless, Mr. Harper said it is “inevitable” crude will get to new markets other than the U.S., based on the demand abroad for energy. Mr. Harper’s government has championed industry […]

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Canada ’s share of U.S. oil imports is dwarfing Mexico and Saudi Arabia , as the country is faced with few outlets for its growing oil sands production. The CHART OF THE DAY tracks the proportion of U.S. crude oil imports supplied by Canada, Saudi Arabia and Mexico since November 2004, when each provided a bit more than 15 percent of demand. Canada’s dominance started in 2006, when output from Alberta ’s oil sands formations boosted the country’s production to a then-record 3.29 million barrels a day. Its share has climbed to about 42 percent while the others combine for 24 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Canadian production rose 5.6 percent to a record last year and is projected by the U.S Energy Information Administration to reach 4.47 million barrels a day in 2015. The country’s refineries can process 2.12 million barrels a day, according to the […]

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Canadian energy company Encana builds bear market for crude oil into its U.S. shale strategies for 2015. UPI/Gary C. Caskey CALGARY, Alberta, Dec. 16 (UPI) — Capital efforts in U.S. shale basins for 2015 are tailored to account for a "volatile price environment," Canadian energy company Encana said Tuesday. Encana said it was directing about 80 percent of its capital expenses, or around $2.2 billion, toward the Montney, Duveray, Eagle Ford and Permian shale reserve areas in the United States. Dough Suttles, the company’s president and chief executive officer, said Encana was moving forward with a new aggressive strategy in mind. "Built into our 2015 plan is the flexibility to respond to the challenges and act on potential opportunities presented in this volatile price environment," he said. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. oil price index, has shed close to half of its value since June. Prices are at the […]

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