OTTAWA —
Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson says it will be another week or two before Canada will know with certainty how much extra oil it can produce and ship to help offset bans on the use of fossil fuels from Russia.
But he says longer-term conversations about Canada partnering with Europe on renewable energy are likely more realistic and more lucrative.
Wilkinson is spending most of his time on the phone with G7 partners and energy industry executives hammering out how best to help Europe cut its reliance on Russia as a source of energy.
He spent most of last week at an energy conference in Houston, had multiple calls with U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and on Thursday, a two-hour call with G7 energy ministers. The Ukraine energy minister also joined part of that latter discussion.
“In the context of the discussions, not just with the Americans, but the Europeans as well, we have essentially asked each other, those of us that are oil and gas producers, to look at whatever we can do,” he said in an interview.
All of these talks are leading toward March 23, when the International Energy Agency is hosting a meeting of energy ministers in Paris.
“My expectation is, by the time I go to Paris, we will have a pretty good view about what we may be able to do,” he said. “I mean, we have constraints around pipeline capacity, obviously, but the ability to fully utilize that, at this point in time to help to stabilize global energy markets, and to assist our friends and allies in Europe is definitely something that we are looking at.”
But even as the world’s fourth largest oil producer, Canada’s role in solving Europe’s immediate fossil fuel needs is going to be limited. Canada exports about 3.6 million barrels of oil a day, but 97 per cent of it goes to the United States.
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault estimated this week Canada might be able to increase output by 200,000 barrels a day. Tristan Goodman, president of the Explorers and Producers Association of Canada, said we might be able to do twice that amount “if we’re lucky.”
To replace all the oil it gets from Russia, Europe needs three million barrels a day.
Critics of the government argue the Liberals’ inability to get any new pipelines built have constrained Canada’s oil industry and now we can’t help when there is a need.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said last week if U.S. President Joe Biden hadn’t killed the Keystone XL pipeline a year ago, it could have been available to replace Russian oil by the end of this year.
The Liberals in Canada backed that project, but are skirting any forceful attempt to ask the Biden administration to revive it.
Wilkinson said he raised it with Granholm in Texas but Biden campaigned on a promise to cancel it, and Wilkinson said he doesn’t see that changing.
“I certainly represented that Canada continues to be of the view that that project should have proceeded,” he said.
Canada also has no strategic oil reserve like the United States to turn to in a pinch.
Wilkinson, however, said this is not a time to turn away from investments in clean energy to get more oil out the door. In fact he said his discussions with Europe are largely about transitioning to clean energy like hydrogen faster.
“We are in this transitional period where we need to address the immediate energy security crisis that is arisen because of Russia’s brutal actions in Ukraine,” he said. “But I think everybody understands that the world is and must turn toward a low carbon future.”
Europe, he said, is moving faster to adopt electric vehicles than most of the world and oil demand on the continent is going to decline as a result.
“So I’m not sure that additional oil pipelines would have been, nor would be, a long term win,” he said.
Canada and Europe are focusing heavily on what can be done to transition away from oil and natural gas more quickly. Hydrogen, which both countries want to adopt more heavily as a source of electricity, requires buildup of demand and production in Canada before exports can be contemplated, said Wilkinson.
But knowing what Europe is going to want and how quickly they might want it are critical,” he said.
“So those are exactly the conversations I will be having in Paris,” he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 12, 2022.
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TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
