Energy Summary for March 23, 2022
2022-03-23 20:31 ET - Market Summary
by Stockwatch Business Reporter
West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery added $5.66 to $114.93 on the New York Merc, while Brent for May added $6.12 to $121.60 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $11.45 to WTI, unchanged. Natural gas for April added four cents to $5.23. The TSX energy index added 4.17 points to close at 223.99.
Oil prices headed higher as a vital Black Sea terminal suffered storm damage that could disrupt Russian and Kazakh crude exports for up to two months. According to Reuters, exports from Kazakhstan's Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal on Russia's Black Sea coast stopped today after a storm damaged two of three loading facilities. A Russian official said repairs could take up to two months, which could lead to exports falling by one million barrels a day.
Speaking of falling numbers, new data today from the U.S. government showed a surprise drop in domestic crude inventories. These fell by 2.5 million barrels last week, defying analysts' predictions to stay flat or modestly rise.
Here in Canada, the oil patch turned its attention to the power-sharing agreement between the federal Liberals and the NDP, aimed at avoiding an election and keeping the minority Liberal government in power until 2025. The agreement comes with several commitments aimed at "tackling the climate crisis." These include "identify[ing] ways to further accelerate the trajectory to achieve net-zero emissions no later than 2050," as well as "developing a plan to phase out public financing of the fossil fuel sector, including from Crown corporations, including early moves in 2022."
In other words, same old, same old, according to one oil patch executive. "I don't see the agenda changing a whole lot," said Hal Kvisle, chairman of ARC Resources Ltd. (ARX: $16.67) and former chief executive officer of TC Energy Corp. (TRP: $70.72), in an interview today on BNN. Mr. Kvisle opined that a lot of the current talking points are "aspirational, and a lot of it we've been listening to for quite a while." He opted to look on the bright side. The Liberal government has been -- perhaps surprisingly -- "quite attentive" to issues raised by the oil and gas industry. "Not a lot has happened so far," he acknowledged, "but they're on a learning curve ... [and] I'm cautiously optimistic that they're starting to see a need for balance between environmental goals and economic prosperity." He did not give specific examples but said he has been involved in some "constructive" talks.
Another development that put Mr. Kvisle in a good mood happened not in Ottawa but in a small town in British Columbia. In Squamish, a proposed LNG (liquefied natural gas) terminal took a step closer to reality yesterday, after the Singapore-based company that is bankrolling it agreed to spend $500-million (U.S.) on it this year. Mr. Kvisle is heartened to see international investment dollars flowing into the country. (He refrained from saying that it marks a nice change.)
The terminal in question is being built by Woodfibre LNG, backed by the Singapore-based Pacific Energy. In an update to the mayor and council of Squamish yesterday, Woodfibre president Christine Kennedy said Pacific Energy has approved $500-million (U.S.) in spending for the project in 2022, a figure that is about one-third of the terminal's total projected cost of $1.6-billion (U.S.). Ms. Kennedy later told the media that the "confirmed investment is indicative of our intent to start preconstruction work this year."
She did not specify when construction might move beyond the "pre" stage. Woodfibre was previously hoping to start construction in 2020, and then again in 2021, but was beset by numerous delays, from COVID to the bankruptcy of its engineering contractor. Work so far has not moved beyond site remediation. (The site was formerly a pulp and paper mill that closed in 2006.) Yesterday, Ms. Kennedy expressed optimism that the project would be in service in 2027, which suggests that construction should start no later than 2023.
Much will depend on when Pacific Energy makes a final investment decision (FID). Should this happen soon, Woodfibre would become the second LNG project in all of Canada to reach this milestone, following the 2018 FID for the Shell-backed (and much larger) $30-billion (U.S.) LNG Canada project in Kitimat.
Further afield, Philip O'Quigley's Australian shale gas explorer, Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd. (FO), stayed unchanged at 14 cents on 554,500 shares. It issued a press release this morning to try to distance itself from a Russian oligarch. The oligarch is Viktor Vekselberg, the billionaire founder of a Russian energy and mining conglomerate. He has now been hit with U.S. sanctions (again) over ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The connection to Falcon is that Mr. Vekselberg is a beneficiary of the foundation that controls Lamesa Holding, a company that acquired 157 million shares of Falcon in 2017 from former shareholder Renova (also a Vekselberg corporate vehicle). This position represents about 16 per cent of Falcon's 981 million shares. It is a sizable interest, but Falcon emphasized today that neither Lamesa nor Mr. Vekselberg "have any influence or control over the operations of Falcon and/or its subsidiaries and their businesses." Indeed, continued Falcon, because the U.S. government previously imposed sanctions on Mr. Vekselberg in 2018, Lamesa's shares in Falcon are "quarantined." This means that Mr. Vekselberg cannot vote at shareholder meetings of Falcon, cannot benefit from the proceeds of selling the shares and cannot benefit from dividends if the company paid them.
Quarantined as the shares might be, it is worth noting -- though today's update did not -- that one of Mr. Vekselberg's associates was in fact a director of Falcon until just three weeks ago. The company released a one-sentence statement on March 1 that director Maxim Mayorets had "agreed to step down" from the board, effectively immediately. No reason was provided, and neither was the context that Mr. Mayorets is an executive board member of Mr. Vekselberg's above-mentioned Renova.
In any case, the investment in Falcon has not been one of Mr. Vekselberg's finer ones. The above-mentioned 157 million shares came at a price of 41 cents each in 2017, for an investment of $65-million. That position -- if Mr. Vekselberg were allowed to sell it -- is now worth just $21-million.
© 2022 Canjex Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.