The shelving of the proposed $20.6-billion Frontier oilsands mine this week stems mostly from the length of time it took for it to win regulatory approval, says the CEO of oilsands producer Husky Energy Inc.
The project application was withdrawn by Teck Resources Ltd. last Sunday, just days before the federal government was to rule on whether it would allow it to proceed.
Teck CEO Don Lindsay said there was “no constructive path forward” in a Canadian environment marked by conflict amid Indigenous rights, climate change issues and resource development.
What killed Teck, you know, ultimately, was a regulatory process that just went on and on and on and on.– Rob Peabody, Husky CEO
“What killed Teck, you know, ultimately, was a regulatory process that just went on and on and on and on,” said Husky CEO Rob Peabody on a conference call Thursday to discuss his company’s fourth-quarter results.
“Had that process concluded in a sensible timeframe, I’m sure we’d have a Teck project under construction today because there were proponents who were set and keen to move forward with that project.
“If you wait long enough, that sort of coalescence on the idea of spending that sort of money ultimately unravels.”
The Frontier project application was first submitted to the Alberta Energy Regulator in late 2011. In 2016, a joint federal-provincial review panel was appointed and it approved the project last July.
Asked if the outcome suggests large oilsands projects can’t be built in Canada, Peabody said it actually means all large projects will have a difficult time, even if they produce renewable hydroelectric energy.
“Building major highways, building pipelines, building major infrastructure projects around cities, things like that, I think this applies to everything,” he said.
Teck’s Frontier oilsands project was planned for northern Alberta. The company pulled its application for the project on Sunday. (CBC News)
Critics of the mine, designed to produce 260,000 barrels of oil a day, said it wouldn’t have been profitable unless North American oil prices were much higher than they are now, although Teck said new technologies would have been employed to bring down costs.
Husky said lower long-term commodity price forecasts were the major reason it decided to take non-cash impairment charges of $2.3 billion after tax in the quarter ended Dec. 31.
The charges are related to its upstream assets in North America, including its Sunrise oilsands project and natural gas assets, as well as the subtraction of redundant assets at its refinery in Lima, Ohio, following a project that allows it to process heavier barrels of crude.
The writedowns echo a $2.8 billion charge taken by oilsands rival Suncor Energy Inc. earlier this month related to lower forecast prices for heavy oil from its Fort Hills oilsands mine in northern Alberta.
Teck took a charge of $910 million for the same reason related to its 21.3 per cent stake in the Fort Hills mine.
Husky cut about 370 jobs in a round of layoffs in October to better align staffing with capital spending plans for 2020 and 2021 that had been reduced by $500 million due to changing market conditions.
Shares of Husky fell by as much as 11.7 per cent to $6.31 on Thursday morning in Toronto after it reported results that matched analyst expectations on production but missed by a wide margin on funds from operations.
The Calgary-based company controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing blamed lower U.S. refinery margins, an extended shutdown at the refinery in Lima, the temporary shutdown of the Keystone pipeline in November and $74 million related to employee severance for posting funds from operations of $469 million.
That compared with $583 million in the year-earlier period and analyst expectations of $712 million, according to the financial markets data firm Refinitiv.
The company posted a net loss of $2.34 billion, compared with a profit of $216 million in the same quarter a year earlier.
On the call, Peabody said the company’s Asia-Pacific operations are getting back to normal after precautions related to the COVID-19 virus temporarily reduced demand for natural gas from the Liwan offshore project operated by its partner, China’s CNOOC Ltd.
HALIFAX – Chorus Aviation Inc. says its shareholders have voted to approve the sale of the company’s regional aircraft leasing business to HPS Investment Partners.
The Halifax-based company says the $1.9-billion deal was greenlighted by 98.1 per cent of votes cast by shareholders at a special meeting. The transaction needed approval by a two-thirds majority vote.
Chorus also says the waiting period mandated under U.S. legislation has expired and that it has received approval from Ireland’s Competition and Consumer Protection Commission.
Chorus announced the sale of its plane leasing business to New York City-based HPS in July for $814 million in cash and $1.1 billion in aircraft debt to be assumed or prepaid by the buyers at closing.
The deal marked a one-eighty for Chorus, which bet big on aircraft leasing just two years earlier by buying London-based plane-leasing outfit Falko Regional Aircraft Ltd.
Chorus, which also provides regional service for Air Canada via Chorus subsidiary Jazz Aviation, says the sale remains subject to the other regulatory approvals and customary conditions.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2024.
TORONTO – AGF Management Ltd. says its net income attributable to equity owners totalled $20.3 million in its latest quarter, down from $23.0 million in the same quarter last year.
The investment manager says the profit amounted to 30 cents per diluted share for the quarter which ended on Aug. 31, down from 34 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
Total net revenue for the quarter amounted to $102.0 million, up from $84.0 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, AGF says it earned 37 cents per diluted share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 34 cents per diluted share a year ago.
The company says its total assets under management and fee-earning assets totalled $49.7 billion at Aug. 31, up from $42.3 billion a year earlier.
Kevin McCreadie, AGF’s chief executive and chief investment officer, says the company was pleased to see early signs of improvement with positive retail net flows complementing its solid investment performance amid an uncertain economic backdrop and significant market volatility.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2024.
As of January 2024, Canada is home to more than 3,600 recreational cannabis retail shops and this number is increasing annually with a single store to every 10,000 Canadians. The retail sector has been facing multiple challenges and one is surely overabundance of stores within smaller communities. Too many retailers compared to users of cannabis. The use of cannabis has remained relatively the same, while multiple retailers and online sales forces are competing for this marketplace.
Failures within the retail field are not a surprise, as Tokyo Smoke closes its multiple stores, and most shops’ profit margins remain small and diminishing over time. Mass closures may happen within certain provinces such as Ontario where situations of multiple retailers are situated right beside a competitor. Massive amounts of revenue have been collected by provincial governments while these stores remain open to every possible financial flux possible.
The black market remains healthy and profitable. An excuse to legalize pot was to challenge illegal pot sales and make it difficult to sell this pot outside of legal means. 22% of Canadian pot smokers get their supply from the black market. They say the pot tastes better and is slightly less costly. Legal pot management is costly and this cost is passed onto the customer. With gummy sales growing, the cost of management by legal means is difficult and costly too.
It seems the government may need to rethink its policy regarding cannabis and the possibility of legalizing further types of illicit drugs in the future. A total ack of imagination exists within the policy network where old-fashioned prejudice towards addiction and the use of narcotics is seen as criminal and threatening to society. All the while the number of traffic stops due to drivers under the influence of narcotics continues to grow, and the use of drugs by the youthful generation continues to be a problem. A solution to our society’s problems will never come from present-day authorities.
