Oil rallied on optimism that consumption could gradually return as major producers continue to cut output to counter a global glut.
West Texas Intermediate futures surged 22 per cent Wednesday. U.S. gasoline stocks fell by 3.67 million barrels compared to an estimated build of 2.49 million, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Weekly gasoline supplied, an indicator of demand, rose by 549,000 barrels a day, the most since May.
“That was a nice surprise to the market,” Nick Holmes, portfolio manager at Tortoise, said regarding better-than-expected results for crude inventory and gasoline supply in the EIA report.
The discount on crude for June delivery relative to July, a structure known as contango, tightened to as little as US$3.28 a barrel after blowing out to as wide as $7.69 Tuesday.
The narrowing gap in the front-month spread suggests that the concern about storage may be easing, according to Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research Inc. “People are starting to think storage isn’t going to get quite so overstuffed after the EIA report,” Lynch said.
The agency reported a smaller-than-expected 8.99 million-barrel increase in national crude stockpiles and a 3.64 million-barrel build at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for futures.
Producers in the shale-rich Permian Basin, and elsewhere in the U.S., will cut about two million barrels a day of output in May compared to March, said Mercuria Chief Executive Officer Marco Dunand in an interview.
Russian oil companies will cut output by about 19 per cent from February levels, the nation’s Energy Minister, Alexander Novak told the Interfax news agency. Nigeria, which has been struggling to sell its oil even at $10 a barrel, will ship the lowest volume of its key Qua Iboe crude grade since 2016 in May and June.
Prices
• WTI for June delivery climbed US$2.72 to settle at US$15.06 a barrel in New York. • Brent for June settlement gained US$2.08 to US$22.54 a barrel. • Gasoline futures gained six cents to 72.72 cents US per gallon.
Valero Energy Corp. said in its first quarter earnings conference call that it sees gasoline demand to recover gradually, along with jet fuel at a slower pace. The company sees the best recovery in demand in the Midwest.
Other oil news:
• While global oil prices remain near multi-decade lows, the heads of two major Canadian crude producers see reasons for hope that the market will rebound in the months ahead. • Saudi Arabia may now be blowing through its reserves at the fastest pace in at least two decades, but the government is barely using the holdings to cover fiscal needs. • OMV’s refineries in Europe are currently running at about 80 per cent and will operate at roughly that level for the full year
–With assistance from Richard Stubbe, Alex Longley, Dan Murtaugh and Sharon Cho.
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.
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.
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.
