CALGARY - Calfrac Well Services Ltd. has shed more than 1,700 jobs from its Canadian and U.S. workforce since the end of 2014, underscoring how painful the crude price collapse has been for oilfield services firms.The Calgary-based company (TSX:CFW) said Wednesday it has reduced its head count by 40 per cent in Canada and 60 per cent in the United States as it faces the worst oilpatch downturn in three decades."Retaining key employees has always been a keen focus for the company, but [Read more]
RBC’s sets aside more money for bad loans stemming from oil price shock
TORONTO - Royal Bank (TSX:RY) is setting more money aside for bad loans as the extended period of low oil prices has made it tougher for both energy companies and consumers in oil-dependent provinces to pay their debts."There's no question that the persistently low oil prices are tough for clients in the affected regions and are driving an increase in credit provisions in our portfolio," RBC's chief executive David McKay said during a conference call to discuss the bank's first-quarter results [Read more]
Encana to cut workforce by further 20% on top of previous downsizing
CALGARY - The head of Encana offered a blunt take on the accumulating layoffs in the oil and gas sector as the Calgary-based energy giant announced plans Wednesday to cut its workforce by 20 per cent this year."The job reductions not only at Encana but across the industry have been as severe as I've ever seen in 33 years," CEO Doug Suttles said in a conference call with investors after the company released its fourth quarter results.Last year, as oil prices took a nosedive, the company laid off [Read more]
Alberta releasing updated budget numbers with oil cash well below projections
EDMONTON - Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci says the prolonged cratering of world oil prices is expected to saddle his province with a $10.4-billion deficit in the next budget."It's a lot. It's a helluva lot of money," Ceci admitted at a legislature news conference Wednesday."That is simply the reality of our circumstances."In last fall's budget, the province projected a $5.4-billion deficit for the 2016-17 fiscal year. Ceci said the new $5-billion figure would be on top of that."This is the [Read more]
B.C. firms hiring skilled trades people from Alberta’s oilpatch: group
EDMONTON - Alberta's pain is British Columbia's gain.The B.C. Construction Association said Tuesday that its member companies have been busy hiring skilled tradespeople who had been working in Alberta's slumping energy sector.Association president Manley McLachlan said these include British Columbians who were working in the oilpatch and unemployed Albertans heading west to seek jobs."There is a tremendous amount of work available in the Lower Mainland," McLachlan said Tuesday from Victoria."We [Read more]
BMO’s first-quarter profit climbs 7 per cent despite oil and gas loan concerns
TORONTO - The Bank of Montreal saw its first-quarter profit climb seven per cent to $1.07 billion, even as lagging energy prices took a bigger bite out of its loan books to the oil and gas sector. "We expected an increase in impaired loans in the oil and gas franchise in particular and we saw that, but it certainly wasn't a disaster," Edward Jones analyst Jim Shanahan said after BMO issued the results Tuesday. Analysts have been predicting that the dramatic decline in the price of crude [Read more]
National Bank expects low oil prices will raise loan losses in 2016
MONTREAL - National Bank said Tuesday it expects its loan losses will increase slightly this year as low crude prices put increased pressure on borrowers in oil-producing provinces."Absent an improvement in prices, we expect some producer loans on our watch list will migrate to impaired and additional provisions could be incurred," Bill Bonnell, executive vice-president of risk management, said during a conference call.During its first quarter, the Montreal-based bank — the smallest of Canada's [Read more]
Climate test for resource projects would likely scuttle oilsands growth
OTTAWA - If Canada and the United States are serious about the climate commitments they made in Paris, they need to establish a common climate test for major resource projects that takes into account a low-carbon future, environmental groups said Tuesday.And they believe any such test is likely to rule out long-term infrastructure, such as pipelines, that leads to expansion of Canada's oil sands production."It's incompatible to be talking about being a leader on climate change and adhering to [Read more]
Feds allocate $250M to help struggling Alberta deal with oil-price slump
OTTAWA - Rushing to balance the federal books would drive the country into recession, Finance Minister Bill Morneau cautioned Tuesday — one day after admitting that he's digging a fiscal hole that's even deeper than originally planned.Morneau was at the centre of several heated partisan exchanges that highlighted the stark philosophical difference between the Liberals and Conservatives on the importance of a balanced federal budget.He appeared before an all-party parliamentary committee to [Read more]
Five things that could push the federal budget deficit past $20B next year
OTTAWA - Finance Minister Bill Morneau released updated fiscal projections Monday that predict an $18.4-billion deficit in 2016-17. That number is expected to grow even larger before the budget is tabled March 22.Here are five things that could push the Liberal budgetary shortfall beyond $20 billion next year:1. Cash for infrastructure. The Liberal government made an election-campaign promise to invest at least $5 billion next year on infrastructure, which the party argues will kick-start the [Read more]
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