BOE Report

Toronto Stock Exchange drops nearly 200 points in early trading Wednesday

TORONTO - Energy stocks led the Toronto stock market to a triple-digit drop Wednesday as investors weighed the potential impacts of the election of a majority NDP government in Alberta.Experts say investors are reacting to the uncertainty over how an inexperienced government will balance the budget and whether policies affecting the energy sector will change."Sometimes it's better to have the devil you know than the devil you don't," said Glenn Paradis, portfolio manager at Canoe Financial.The [Read more]

Alberta Elects NDP, Prentice Resigns

EDMONTON — The NDP has won a majority in Alberta by toppling the Progressive Conservative colossus that has dominated the province for more than four decades. The party under leader Rachel Notley swept all 19 seats in Edmonton on Tuesday and made inroads in previously barren NDP territory in Calgary and Lethbridge. The Wildrose party appeared poised to take second place and form the official Opposition, while Premier Jim Prentice and his PCs were trailing in third. Prentice later [Read more]

A whiff of falsehood: Cow pasture carries evidence debunking Obama KXL claim

BAKER, Mont. - U.S. President Barack Obama's claims about the long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline have been raising eyebrows lately in this tiny oil-industry town in eastern Montana.The locals smell falsehood — evidence of it lies in a cow pasture just outside their town.The scent of untruth emanates from Obama's oft-repeated claim that the pipeline would simply ship Canadian oil, a statement he's made several times while talking down the project's economic benefit for Americans."This is Canadian [Read more]

Premier Prentice says Alberta NDP pipeline policy will mirror Mulcair’s

EDMONTON - Premier Jim Prentice is ratcheting up warnings of a NDP-governed Alberta, bringing federal NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair into the fray and saying the party has a "fundamental distrust of business.""Make no mistake about the NDP," he told 1,500 party faithful at a Progressive Conservative fundraising dinner Thursday night."When you drill down into the policies that they are putting forward, you realize this not a new NDP."Fundamentally, the NDP could undermine the heart of Alberta's [Read more]

PSAC forecasts “astounding” drop in drilling

CALGARY - A drilling industry group is slashing its forecast for the number of wells that will be drilled in Canada this year by nearly half. The Petroleum Services Association of Canada is calling for only 5,320 wells across the country in 2015. The group says that's an "astounding" 47 per cent drop from what it predicted in October. The forecast is based on an average natural gas price of C$2.50, crude prices of US$53 a barrel and the Canadian dollar at 77 U.S. cents. The well [Read more]

Lower oil prices push Exxon Mobil’s profit down 46 per cent; weakest 1Q in 6 years

IRVING, Texas - Exxon earned $4.94 billion in the first quarter, a huge sum but only about half of what the company made last year. Lower oil prices depleted both Exxon's top and bottom lines.It was the lowest first-quarter profit for Exxon Mobil Corp. in six years, although the results still beat Wall Street expectations.When world oil prices collapsed from about $100 a barrel to less than $50 over the second half of last year, it made some drilling projects unprofitable. Exxon is beginning to [Read more]

Focus on costs as oilsands giants Suncor, Imperial report earnings

CALGARY - Top oilsands executives say they're looking past swings in crude prices and focusing instead on what's within their control."The truth is no one knows" where prices are heading, Rich Kruger, CEO of Imperial Oil Ltd. (TSX:IMO), said Thursday at the company's annual meeting."At Imperial, we are approaching our business as if we may be in for a sustained period of lower prices," he said. And if the market improves, "all the better."During the first quarter, U.S. benchmark crude hovered [Read more]

Shell sees revenue dive due to slide in energy prices, but profits above forecasts

LONDON - Oil company Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday reported better-than-expected profits, though sales were hammered by the drop in global energy prices.It said its first-quarter profit rose 7 per cent, thanks to a good performance in the refining division as well as to the fact that year-earlier figures were weighed down by one-time charges.The current cost of supplies, a measure of profit used in the industry that strips out fluctuations in the value of oil stocks, increased to $4.76 billion [Read more]

Oilsands giant Suncor Energy posts $341-million net loss in first quarter

CALGARY - Suncor Energy Inc. (TSX:SU), Canada's largest oilsands producer, posted a $341 million net loss during the first three months of 2015, when crude prices hovered around a meagre US$50 a barrel.During the same period a year earlier, the Calgary-based company turned a net profit of about $1.49 billion.Without unusual items in the mix, like foreign exchange impacts, Suncor posted $175 million in operating earnings, down sharply from $1.79 billion during the first quarter of 2014.Suncor has [Read more]

Cenovus CEO pans idea of royalty review as May 5 Alberta election looms

CALGARY - The CEO of Calgary-based Cenovus Energy says it would be a bad idea to review Alberta's royalty structure at a time when crude prices are down by half.Brian Ferguson says if Alberta is not fiscally competitive, then jobs and investment will go elsewhere.Royalties have become a hot topic ahead of Tuesday's election, with NDP Leader Rachel Notley saying it makes sense to examine whether Albertans are getting their fair share of the province's resource riches.Notley has also said she [Read more]