Canadian heavy crude's discount versus the U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) narrowed on Monday to an 11-year low. Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy blend crude for June delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, traded at $3 per barrel below WTI, according to NE2 Canada Inc, narrower than Friday's settle of $3.45 under. The intraday price is the lowest recorded by NE2 in data that goes back to 2009. Canada, the world's fourth-largest oil producer, has shut in 644,000 barrels per day, [Read more]
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Canada to create bridge financing for big companies, including airlines and energy
Canada on Monday said it would create a bridge financing facility for large employers including in the airline and energy sectors that need help to get through the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus. The bridge lending facility will be for all companies, except those in the financial sector, with an annual revenue of about C$300 million ($215 million) seeking financing of about C$60 million or more that have "significant operations or workforce in Canada." "This support will not [Read more]
Long-suffering Canadian oilpatch faces ‘biggest existential crisis’ yet
Canada's oil patch has endured five years of existential threats that have pruned weaker companies, but now its strongest firms are trying to navigate the coronavirus pandemic, which has set off the worst crisis in the oil industry in 40 years. Economic shutdowns have ground travel to a halt, cutting fuel demand by roughly 30% worldwide. With consumption down, oil producers around the globe cut production sharply. Canada, the fourth-largest oil producer, has shut in 644,000 barrels per [Read more]
Saudi Arabia to cut June oil output by an extra 1 mln bpd
Saudi Arabia has directed national oil company Aramco to cut its crude oil production for June by an extra voluntary amount of 1 million barrels per day, on top of a reduction already committed by the kingdom under the OPEC+ cut deal, a Saudi energy ministry official said on Monday. "This brings the total production cut that will be carried out by the Kingdom, to around 4.8 million barrels per day, from the April production level," the official said. "Therefore, the Kingdom's production [Read more]
Debt-stricken Chesapeake Energy to advance incentive executive pay
Chesapeake Energy Corp said it would prepay a total of $25 million in incentive compensation to 21 top executives to ensure they are motivated, even as it prepares to file for bankruptcy protection to tackle its nearly $9 billion debt pile. The Oklahoma City-based company, co-founded by late wildcatter and outspoken natural gas proponent Aubrey McClendon, has been struggling with an unprecedented rout in oil and gas prices, as the coronavirus-driven economic downturn saps energy demand. [Read more]
Work-from-home success changing Calgary office use assumptions, CEOs say
CALGARY - Work-from-home measures taken to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic are challenging long-held assumptions about how Canada's oil and gas sector should provide and care for its office workers. The ramifications as downtown offices reopen in Calgary could mean fewer face-to-face meetings, less travel, more flexibility for workers in where, when and how they work and, ultimately, lower leasing bills, CEOs say. "There's been a lot of learnings from this working from home, [Read more]
Delphi Energy Corp. provides update on CCAA proceedings and operations update
CALGARY, Alberta- Delphi Energy Corp. (“Delphi” or the “Company”) announces that it has obtained an order from the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta (the “Court”) granted in Delphi’s proceedings under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (the “CCAA”) extending the stay period provided by the amended and restated initial order to May 22, 2020. Delphi reports that Luminus Energy IE Designated Activity Company, an affiliate of a pooled investment vehicle of Luminus Management, LLC (“Luminus”), [Read more]
Heavy discount narrows to 11-year low on production cuts
Canadian heavy crude's discount versus the U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) narrowed on Friday to an 11-year low. Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy blend crude for June delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, traded at $3.50 per barrel below WTI, according to NE2 Canada Inc, narrower than Thursday's settle of $5.25 under. The intraday price is the lowest level recorded by NE2 in data that goes back to 2009. Supply cuts by Canadian producers are estimated by Canadian Natural Resources [Read more]
Return Energy Inc. (to be renamed Spartan Delta Corp.) announces court approval of its transformational acquisition
CALGARY, Alberta - Return Energy Inc. d.b.a. Spartan Delta Corp. ("Spartan" or the "Company") (RTN: TSXV) is pleased to announce that its previously announced acquisition (the "Acquisition") of substantially all of the assets of Bellatrix Exploration Ltd. ("Bellatrix") has been approved by the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta (the "CCAA Court") under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (Canada). The CCAA Court has granted Bellatrix an Approval and Vesting Order (the "Approval Order") in [Read more]
Canada weekly rig count down 1 to 26
Canada’s fleet of active drilling rigs shrank from 27 to 26 since last week according to data from Baker Hughes. Total drilling count was 30 at May 8th. 7 rigs were drilling for oil; 19 for natural gas. The drilling activity in Alberta fell from 16 to 15 since last week. Saskatchewan’s drilling remained at 2 rigs. View a full breakdown of Western Canada’s rig activity. [Read more]