Energy News Monitoring

Aenert news. Energy Companies
Canadian oil industry and the financial position of the most significant companies are of practical interest as one of the indicators of the state of the world oil market. Canada has huge oil reserves, most of which are hard-to-recover oil sands. The extraction and subsequent processing of this oil requires additional technological and financial costs. Simple considerations suggest that any negative trends in the global oil market should first of all be reflected in the most difficult production areas. This is not always confirmed in practice, but nevertheless, if the Canadian oil industry shows a decline, this will be one of the serious signals for changes in the global market.

Unfortunately, to date, official data on oil production in Canada is limited to October last year. However, it is unlikely that data for the last two months of last year will significantly change the situation. The available average daily oil production indicators for the country as a whole, as well as the yearly financial and production indicators of leading companies, allow us to assess the state of the Canadian oil industry as quite stable.

Production of Canadian crude oil and equivalent (average, b/d)
 

Source: Canada Energy Regulator

Yes, there is no exorbitant growth of any indicators. Heavy oil production decreased slightly, but upgraded bitumen production increased noticeably. Average daily production of traditional oil remained virtually unchanged.

Suncor Energy Inc.

Suncor Energy is the world's largest bitumen production and processing company. Its main facilities are based in the Athabasca Region in the Fort McMurray area. The company produces by both mining methods and In-Situ (SAGD). Forbes Global consistently ranks Suncor Energy among the top 100 largest public companies.

The fourth quarter of 2023 was one of the company's best ever. Total oil and gas production was 808,100 barrels of oil equivalent, the second-highest quarterly result in the company's history. In addition, oil sands production, at 757,400 barrels per day, was the best ever. Operating revenues for 2023Q4 amounted to $13,134 millions, and Net earnings - $2,820 millions. The utilization of oil refineries owned by the company reached 98%. The company's quarterly dividend per share increased by about 5% to $0.545. The market value of the company's shares, although decreased slightly compared to 2023Q3, remained above $32 per share.

Suncor Energy. Revenue, net income and share price

Source: Suncor Energy Inc.

The company's annual performance indicators were also quite satisfactory, and for some items even record-breaking. In particular, oil sands production reached its highest level of 689,600 barrels per day, especially from the Syncrude and Firebag fields. At the same time, the total annual production amounted to 745,700 barrels of oil equivalent per day. At the end of 2023, Suncor paid shareholders $2.8 billion in dividends.

Cenovus Energy Inc.

Cenovus Energy was formed in 2009 after the separation of Encana Corporation. The company is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. Cenovus Energy mainly produces oil through Steam-assisted gravity drainage in the Fort McMurray area.

In the fourth quarter of 2023, Cenovus Energy's Total oil sands Production amounted to 612.6 Mbbls/d, which is almost 2% more than in 2023Q3 and approximately 0.5% more than a year earlier. For 2023, Oil Sands Bitumen overall and the Foster Creek and Lloydminster Thermal fields performed best in the most recent quarter. In 2023Q4, Total Revenue dropped to $13,134 million from $14,577 million in the previous quarter, and Net Earnings dropped 2.5 times to $743 million compared to $1,864 million in 2023Q3.

Cenovus Energy. Revenue, net income and share price

Source: Cenovus Energy Inc.

At the end of 2023, Total oil sands Production increased to 593.4 Mbbls/d (+1.16%), and Total Canadian Refining Production amounted to 114.2 Mbbls/d, which is 9 Mbbls/d more than in 2022. Despite this, Cenovus Energy's annual financial performance turned out to be significantly lower than the previous year. Total Revenue was fixed at $52,204 million versus $66,897 million in 2022. Net Earnings decreased to $4109 million, while in 2022 it amounted to $6450 million.

Imperial Oil Limited

Imperial Oil is another of the leaders in bituminous oil production and refining. ExxonMobil, the largest U.S. oil company, owns about 70% of the company. In addition to bituminous oil production and refining activities, Imperial Oil is active in natural gas production and petrochemicals production.

In 2023Q4, the company demonstrated record Upstream production of 452,000 gross oil-equivalent barrels per day over the past 30 years, as well as the highest ever quarterly production at the Kearl field - 308,000 gross oil-equivalent barrels per day (218,000 barrels Imperial share). Total Revenue was set at 13109 million Canadian dollars, and Net income - 1365 million in the same units (- 21% compared to 2022Q4). The ratio for Net income between Upstream and Downstream was 770 versus 595 million Canadian dollars, respectively.

Imperial Oil. Revenue, net income and share price

Source: Imperial Oil Limited

Imperial Oil's total annual profit in 2023 fell to 4,889 million Canadian dollars from 7,340 million Canadian dollars in the 2022 year. The company's stock price as of the last quarterly date has increased by more than $10 over the year.

Thus, a characteristic indicator for the presented companies is the growth of hydrocarbon production, which sometimes reached record values. However, financial results for 2023 were mostly weaker than the year before. Obviously, this is primarily due to the annual decline in prices for main types of products. Thus, Synthetic crude oil (per barrel) in 2023Q4 was at 105.37 US$ per barrel, against 115.22 US$ per barrel in the same quarter last year. Changes for West Texas Intermediate were 78.54 US$ versus 82.58 US$ per barrel, respectively.

By the Editorial Board