Canadian oil firms battle for survival

Profits plunged during the first quarter for a sector already struggling to contend with growing debt and a shortage of midstream takeaway

Major Canadian oil companies saw a sea of red in the first quarter. They have now taken action to conserve cash and, hopefully, improve their balance sheets in anticipation of even harsher conditions in the second quarter due to the short-lived oil price war and global efforts to combat Covid-19. Combined, four major Canadian oil companies—Suncor Energy, Canadian Natural Resources (CNRL), Cenovus Energy and Husky Energy—saw a massive C$8.32bn (US$5.9bn) loss in the first quarter of this year compared with a C$2.87bn profit in the first quarter of 2019 (see Table 1). Even more disheartening, all four companies suffered operating losses in the past quarter after accounting for special charges,