Canadian producer prices in May fell for the first time in nine months, dropping by 0.2 percent from April on lower prices for energy and petroleum products, Statistics Canada said on Friday. Analysts in a Reuters poll had forecast a 0.3 percent increase. Of the 21 commodity groups, prices rose in 17, dropped in three and were unchanged in one. Prices for energy and petroleum products fell by 3.5 percent, dragged down by declines in motor gasoline, fuel oils and diesel fuel. Excluding this [Read more]
British Columbia government toppled in non-confidence vote
VICTORIA, British Columbia (Reuters) - British Columbia's Liberal government was defeated on Thursday in a non-confidence vote, as expected, paving the way for the left-leaning New Democrats to rule the Western Canadian province for the first time in 16 years. Such a prospect has unnerved investors in Canada's third-most populous province, not least owners of oil and gas projects such as Kinder Morgan Inc's C$7.4 billion Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, which the New Democratic Party (NDP) [Read more]
Canada says it wants single body to assess major energy projects
Canada wants a single federal authority to assess the potential impact of oil pipelines and mines, officials said on Thursday, a move that could help quell protests that have blocked a series of projects. Responsibility for examining the environmental impact of projects on federally-regulated land is shared between three separate entities, a system the Liberal government says the public does not trust. Plans released on Thursday mean the much-criticised national energy regulator would lose its [Read more]
Alberta hits $10.8 billion budget deficit in 2016-17
Canada's main crude-producing province Alberta ended the 2016-17 fiscal year with a $10.8 billion budget deficit, the government's annual report said on Thursday, as weak oil prices hurt the economy for a third consecutive year. That was C$263 million higher than forecast in the government's original 2016 budget. It reflects the impact of a huge wildfire in the Wood Buffalo region of the oil sands in May 2016 and payments related to the phase out of coal power in the province. The budget [Read more]
Oil prices rise to two-week high on dip in U.S. output
Oil prices rose to a two-week high on Thursday, extending a rally into a sixth straight session after a decline in weekly U.S. production eased concerns about deepening oversupply. Crude prices slipped to the lowest in 10 months last week but have since rebounded more than 7 percent, stretching their bull-run to the longest since April. Global benchmark Brent crude futures LCOc1 were up 43 cents at $47.74 a barrel at 1321 GMT, having touched a two-week high of $47.98 earlier in the [Read more]
ING bank says it will not finance major Canadian pipeline projects
Dutch lender ING Groep NV has said it would not finance any of Canada's major pipeline projects, including TransCanada Corp's Keystone XL and Energy East and Enbridge Inc's Line 3, after pressure from activists. The move came after ING earlier this month publicly disavowed Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd's Trans Mountain expansion project, but did not name any other Canadian projects. While ING has a policy of not financing the extraction of oil sands globally, it had been unclear whether that [Read more]
British Columbia’s 2016-17 budget surplus boosted by strong economy
British Columbia's Liberal government, which is on the verge of being voted out of power, said on Wednesday its unaudited 2016-17 budget surplus was C$2.8 billion ($2.15 billion), sharply above the C$1.5 billion it projected in February. Michael de Jong, the Western Canadian province's finance minister, said the larger surplus was driven by higher-than-expected economic growth, marked by strong employment, retail sales and housing starts. Preliminary real 2016 GDP growth came in at [Read more]
U.S. charges Penn West Petroleum, ex-executives with accounting fraud
U.S. securities regulators on Wednesday filed civil accounting fraud charges against Canada-based oil and gas company Penn West Petroleum Ltd and several of its former top finance executives. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that Penn West Petroleum, which changed its name earlier this week to Obsidian Energy, had moved hundreds of millions of dollars from operating expense accounts to capital expenditure accounts. That maneuver, the SEC said, artificially reduced the [Read more]
U.S. charges Penn West Petroleum with accounting fraud
U.S. financial regulators on Wednesday said they have charged Canada-based oil and gas company Penn West Petroleum Ltd and some of its top finance executives with accounting fraud. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in a statement alleged that Penn West Petroleum, which changed its name earlier this week to Obsidian Energy, had moved hundreds of millions of dollars from operating expense accounts to capital expenditure accounts. The complaint was filed in federal court in Manhattan. [Read more]
CPPIB says committed up to $1 bln to buy U.S. oil and gas assets
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) said it is investing up to $1 billion in a partnership with Encino Energy LLC to buy oil and gas assets in the United States. The fund said the partnership, Encino Acquisition Partners, would focus on acquiring assets in mature basins. Encino has committed $25 million to the partnership. (Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty) [Read more]