Canadian oil prices surged to a four-month high on Monday, a day after Alberta said it would mandate temporary production cuts that some producers had requested after pipeline bottlenecks forced their oil to be sold at severe discounts. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said Sunday the government will force producers to cut output by 8.7 percent, or 325,000 barrels per day (bpd), until excess crude in storage is reduced. Canada is one of the world's largest oil producers, supplying more than 4 [Read more]
Bank of Canada to lift rates three times in 2019, but cautiously
The Bank of Canada will next raise interest rates early next year, and twice again by the end of 2019, according to economists polled by Reuters who say the central bank needs to be careful with the pace of tightening.As recently as late October there was a minority view that a rate rise might come in December. But a huge plunge in the price of oil - Canada's main export - along with evidence of household budget strain has largely erased those expectations.The unanimous call for no hike in [Read more]
Oil surges 3 pct on trade truce, expected supply cuts
Oil prices jumped by more than 3 percent on Monday after the United States and China agreed to a 90-day truce in a trade dispute and Canada's Alberta province ordered a production cut, while exporter group OPEC looked set to reduce supply.Brent crude futures rose $1.86, or 3.1 percent, to $61.32 a barrel, by 11:07 a.m. EST (1607 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose $1.68 to $52.61 a barrel, a 3.3 percent gain. Both benchmarks surged by more than 5 percent earlier in the [Read more]
Why is Canada’s Alberta forcing oil production cuts?
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said on Sunday that the Western Canadian province would mandate temporary oil output cuts to deal with a pipeline bottleneck that has led to a glut of crude in storage and driven down Canadian crude prices.The production caps are the latest effort by the province's left-leaning New Democratic Party government to deal with historically low crude prices that are hurting producers and dragging on government revenues. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENTIAL?Western Canada Select [Read more]
U.S. to conduct additional Keystone XL pipeline review
The U.S. State Department will conduct another environmental review of TransCanada Corp's long-pending Keystone XL oil pipeline, a U.S. official said on Friday, a move that could lead to additional delays of the project.The so-called supplemental environmental impact statement was ordered by Judge Brian Morris of the U.S. District Court in Montana in his ruling on Nov. 8 that blocked construction of the pipeline planned to bring heavy crude from Canada's oil sands to the United States. [Read more]
U.S. drillers add oil rigs for fifth straight month
U.S. energy firms this week added oil rigs for a third week in four and increased the rig count for the fifth month in a row, even though oil prices this week fell to their lowest since October 2017.Drillers added two oil rigs in the week to Nov. 30, bringing the total count to 887, General Electric Co's Baker Hughes energy services firm said in its closely followed report on Friday. For the month, the rig count was up 12 in November, matching last month and its fifth monthly increase [Read more]
Alberta trims deficit, warns low oil prices slowing economic growth
The Alberta government on Friday trimmed its 2018-2019 budget deficit estimate, but downgraded the 2019 economic growth forecast in the Canadian province due to faltering crude oil prices. The deficit looks to reach $7.5 billion, compared with $7.8 billion projected in August, the government said in a statement. The left-leaning New Democrat government led by Premier Rachel Notley had budgeted in April for an $8.8 billion deficit. She faces a provincial election in spring. Low Canadian [Read more]
Keystone XL Pipe cleared to start limited pre-construction work- Bloomberg
-- Source link: -- Note: Reuters has not verified this story and does not vouch for its accuracy [Read more]
Canadian oil producers trade shares for growth but investors hard to impress
Depressed Canadian oil prices are forcing energy companies to use their shares as a currency to fund acquisitions, but investors have been hard to win over to the strategy. Unusually large price discounts for Canadian crude, due to clogged pipelines, and faltering global prices have made growth hard to realize. Some producers have reduced output and lower cash flow has left consolidation using stock as the main option. Shares of Encana Corp, Baytex Energy Corp and International Petroleum [Read more]
Saskatchewan expects bigger deficit, oil revenue dips
Saskatchewan forecast on Thursday a larger fiscal deficit than it previously projected, as revenue from oil and gas production dipped because of full pipelines. Saskatchewan, in a mid-year fiscal update, projected a $348.3 million deficit for 2018-19, compared with its forecast of $306 million in August. It had predicted a $365.3 million deficit in its April budget. The province heavily depends on revenues from production of crude oil and of potash, a crop nutrient. While North American [Read more]