Business

Oil Prices Climb As China Signals An Easing Of Covid Restrictions

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2 years ago

October 21, 2022

Oil prices rose early on Thursday after China signaled an easing of its strict Covid policy, which has battered market sentiment in recent months.

As of 6:46 a.m. ET on Thursday, WTI Crude prices were rising by 1.67% at $86.98, and the international benchmark, Brent Crude, was up 1.41% to trade at $93.72.

China’s strict Covid measures could be partially eased, which could be supportive of oil prices.

The Chinese city of Xi’an, for example, home to more than 13 million residents, has said it would implement Covid control measures only in risk areas instead of city-wide “static management”, CN Wire reported on Thursday, citing the city’s health authorities.

Just this past Sunday, Chinese President Xi Jinping signaled that the country’s zero-Covid policy would remain in place for the time being.

Yet, officials in China are discussing the idea of reducing the mandatory quarantine for travelers into China to seven from 10 days, Bloomberg News reported today, quoting sources with knowledge of the discussions.

The zero-Covid policy is not only isolating China from the rest of the world, but it weighs on market sentiment in the whole commodity complex, considering the fact that China is the world’s largest consumer of raw materials and the biggest importer of crude oil.

Early on Thursday, oil prices were up despite the announcement of more SPR releases coming, as there are concerns that the strategic reserves for emergencies are estimated to now contain oil for only 22 days of consumption in case of an actual emergency.

Prices were also pushed higher on Thursday by Wednesday’s weekly U.S. oil inventory report by the EIA, which showed a decline of 1.7 million barrels in crude oil, a small draw in gasoline stocks, and a slight increase in distillates.

Commenting on the weekly data, analysts at Saxo Bank noted on Thursday that “Four-week seasonal demand for distillate fuels soared to the highest since 2007 while inventories remained at the lowest point on record for this time of year.”

Despite the small increase of 124,000 barrels in distillate stocks, which include diesel, “there are still concerns going into winter over distillate inventories as they are at their lowest levels in at least 25 years for this time of year,” ING commodity strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey said on Thursday.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

Tsvetana Paraskova

Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews.

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TC Energy cuts cost estimate for Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico

Published

7 hours ago

November 7, 2024

Anne Joseph

CALGARY – TC Energy Corp. has lowered the estimated cost of its Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico.

It says it now expects the project to cost between US$3.9 billion and US$4.1 billion compared with its original estimate of US$4.5 billion.

The change came as the company reported a third-quarter profit attributable to common shareholders of C$1.46 billion or $1.40 per share compared with a loss of C$197 million or 19 cents per share in the same quarter last year.

Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 totalled C$4.08 billion, up from C$3.94 billion in the third quarter of 2023.

TC Energy says its comparable earnings for its latest quarter amounted to C$1.03 per share compared with C$1.00 per share a year earlier.

The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:TRP)

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BCE reports Q3 loss on asset impairment charge, cuts revenue guidance

Published

7 hours ago

November 7, 2024

Anne Joseph

BCE Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter as it recorded $2.11 billion in asset impairment charges, mainly related to Bell Media’s TV and radio properties.

The company says its net loss attributable to common shareholders amounted to $1.24 billion or $1.36 per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $640 million or 70 cents per share a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, BCE says it earned 75 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 81 cents per share in the same quarter last year.

“Bell’s results for the third quarter demonstrate that we are disciplined in our pursuit of profitable growth in an intensely competitive environment,” BCE chief executive Mirko Bibic said in a statement.

“Our focus this quarter, and throughout 2024, has been to attract higher-margin subscribers and reduce costs to help offset short-term revenue impacts from sustained competitive pricing pressures, slow economic growth and a media advertising market that is in transition.”

Operating revenue for the quarter totalled $5.97 billion, down from $6.08 billion in its third quarter of 2023.

BCE also said it now expects its revenue for 2024 to fall about 1.5 per cent compared with earlier guidance for an increase of zero to four per cent.

The company says the change comes as it faces lower-than-anticipated wireless product revenue and sustained pressure on wireless prices.

BCE added 33,111 net postpaid mobile phone subscribers, down 76.8 per cent from the same period last year, which was the company’s second-best performance on the metric since 2010.

It says the drop was driven by higher customer churn — a measure of subscribers who cancelled their service — amid greater competitive activity and promotional offer intensity. BCE’s monthly churn rate for the category was 1.28 per cent, up from 1.1 per cent during its previous third quarter.

The company also saw 11.6 per cent fewer gross subscriber activations “due to more targeted promotional offers and mobile device discounting compared to last year.”

Bell’s wireless mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.26, down 3.4 per cent from $60.28 in the third quarter of the prior year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:BCE)

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Canada Goose reports Q2 revenue down from year ago, trims full-year guidance

Published

7 hours ago

November 7, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Canada Goose Holdings Inc. trimmed its financial guidance as it reported its second-quarter revenue fell compared with a year ago.

The luxury clothing company says revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 29 totalled $267.8 million, down from $281.1 million in the same quarter last year.

Net income attributable to shareholders amounted to $5.4 million or six cents per diluted share, up from $3.9 million or four cents per diluted share a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, Canada Goose says it earned five cents per diluted share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 16 cents per diluted share a year earlier.

In its outlook, Canada Goose says it now expects total revenue for its full financial year to show a low-single-digit percentage decrease to low-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a low-single-digit increase.

It also says it now expects its adjusted net income per diluted share to show a mid-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a percentage increase in the mid-teens.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GOOS)

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