Suncor To Acquire Teck Resources’ Stake In Fort Hills Oilsands Project For $1B

CALGARY — Suncor Energy says it has agreed to buy Teck Resources Ltd.’s 21.3 per cent stake in the Fort Hills oilsands project for approximately $1 billion.

The Calgary-based oil and gas company says upon closing of the deal, Suncor’s overall share in Fort Hills will increase to 75.4 per cent.

Suncor says in a release Wednesday that the deal will be funded by cash from asset sales currently underway.

With the completion of the deal, the other partner in the Fort Hills project will be TotalEnergies EP Canada Ltd., which holds a 24.6 per cent stake.

The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023.

The Fort Hills oilsands project is located in Alberta’s Athabasca region, 90 km north of Fort McMurray.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 26, 2022

Companies in this story: (TSX:SU)

IEA sees India’s imports of natural gas, oil zoom by 2030

India’s import of natural gas will double and that of oil will rise 50% by 2030 due to soaring domestic demand while production remains subdued, International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its latest outlook released on Thursday.

The demand for natural gas in the country would nearly double to 115 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2030 from 66 bcm in 2021, with most of the growth coming from manufacturing and other industry, according to IEA’s World Energy Outlook based on the stated policies ..

Read more at:
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/energy/oil-gas/iea-sees-indias-imports-of-natural-gas-oil-zoom-by-2030/articleshow/95130631.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

CN Rail Boosts Outlook, Reports Revenue Up On Higher Volumes, Rates

The Canadian Press – Canadian Press – Tue Oct 25, 4:08PM CDT

MONTREAL — CN Rail has boosted its financial outlook for the year as it reported gains in revenue and adjusted profits in the third quarter on higher volumes and rates, while net income was down.

The Montreal-based railway says net income for the quarter ending Sept. 30 was $1.46 billion, down from $1.69 billion for the same quarter last year.

Adjusted profits for the last quarter were unchanged at $1.46 billion, while last year’s adjusted profits were $1.08 billion after several exclusions including an $886 million payout related to its failed takeover of a U.S. railway.

Revenue of $4.51 billion for the quarter was up from $3.59 billion last year as the company brought in higher fuel surcharge revenue, raised freight rates, and saw higher volumes of coal exports and U.S. grain shipments.

The railway says it now expects to deliver free cash flow of about $4.2 billion in 2022, up from a range of between $3.7 billion and $4 billion it gave in an April guidance.

It also now expects to deliver adjusted, diluted earnings per share growth of about 25 per cent, up from the 15 to 20 per cent it guided in April.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 25, 2022.

Companies in this story: (TSX:CNR)

Canada expanding assisted suicide law to include the mentally ill, possibly enable ‘mature minors’

Medical assistance in dying (MAID) has been available in Canada since 2016 and is set to expand in March 2023, extending eligibility to those with a mental illness. 

Bill C-7 would allow individuals seeking MAID to apply solely on the basis of a mental disorder. Prior to the bill’s passage, MAID eligibility was based on having a “grievous and irremediable medical condition,” according to a report from the Canadian government on the practice. 

Creighton School of Medicine professor Charles Camosy said Wednesday on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” the bill would allow “mature minors” to be euthanized by state doctors without the consent of their parents. 

https://www.foxnews.com/media/canadas-expanding-assisted-suicide-law-include-mentally-ill-enable-mature-minors

ECB hikes rates by 75 basis points and announces new terms for European banks

The European Central Bank announced Thursday a 75-basis-point interest rate hike — its third consecutive increase this year — while also revealing new conditions for European banks.

Market participants had two questions in mind ahead of the meeting: When will the ECB start reducing its balance sheet, in a process known as quantitative tightening, and what will happen to the lending conditions for banks in the near future?

The ECB announced Thursday that it was changing the terms and conditions of its targeted longer-term refinancing operations, or TLTROs — a tool that provides European banks with attractive borrowing conditions, designed to incentivise lending to the real economy.

“The Governing Council … decided to adjust the interest rates applicable to TLTRO III from 23 November 2022 and to offer banks additional voluntary early repayment dates,” the ECB said.

“In order to align the remuneration of minimum reserves held by credit institutions with the Eurosystem more closely with money market conditions, the Governing Council decided to set the remuneration of minimum reserves at the ECB’s deposit facility rate.”

Because the ECB has been increasing rates faster than expected in the face of soaring inflation, European lenders are benefiting both from TLTROs and higher interest rates. The situation has been described by some as effectively providing a subsidy to banks.

“The optics are bad against the backdrop of a historical shock to households’ income, and political pressure cannot be ignored,” Frederik Ducrozet, head of macroeconomic research at Pictet Wealth Management, said in a note last week.

In addition, the latest rate hike takes the ECB’s main benchmark from 0.75% to 1.5%, a level not seen since 2009 before the sovereign debt crisis. It comes after the central bank rose rates by 50 basis points in July and 75 basis points in September.

The ECB is dealing with both record-high inflation and a slowing economy, with many economists predicting a recession in the region before the end of the year. It’s a fine balance for the central bank, as if it hikes rates aggressively in an effort to deal with inflation, it could cause even more trouble for the wider economy.

U.S. GDP accelerated at 2.6% pace in Q3, better than expected as growth turns positive

Gross domestic product was expected to grow at a 2.3% annualized pace in the third quarter, according to Dow Jones.

This is breaking news. Please check back here for updates.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/27/us-gdp-accelerated-at-2point6percent-pace-in-q3-better-than-expected-as-growth-turns-positive.html

Meltdown as Elon Musk enters Twitter headquarters ahead of takeover: ‘Let that sink in!’

Tesla CEO Elon Musk made a big splash on Twitter with a video of himself walking into the tech giant’s headquarters ahead of his takeover of the company. 

Musk, who is set to officially have ownership of the social media platform by Friday, shared a clip of himself walking into Twitter’s lobby while carrying a sink.

“Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in!” Musk exclaimed with a visual pun. 

https://www.foxnews.com/media/meltdown-elon-musk-enters-twitter-headquarters-ahead-takeover-let-sink

CP Rail reports revenue, earnings up on strong demand for potash shipping

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. CP-T +1.59%increase says its revenue and earnings for the third quarter were up from last year as it saw strong demand for potash shipping and other services.

The Calgary-based railway says revenues of $2.31-billion for the quarter ending Sept. 30 were up 19 per cent compared with $1.94-billion in the same quarter last year.

The company says foreign-exchanged adjusted potash revenue was up 48 per cent, intermodal up 44 per cent, automotive up 31 per cent, while energy, chemical and plastics were down 10 per cent.

Net income of $891-million or 96 cents per share for the quarter was up from $472-million or 71 cents per share for the same quarter last year.

Core adjusted diluted earnings per share, which exclude significant items and accounting related to its purchase of Kansas City Southern, came in at $1.01, a 15-per-cent increase from a year earlier.

The company says its reportable train accident frequency was down 76 per cent to a record low of 0.37 per million train-miles from 1.54 in the third quarter of 2021, while its personal injury rate was down 12 per cent to 0.86 injuries per 200,000 employee-hours.

Teck Resources exits oil sands with $1-billion sale of Fort Hills stake to Suncor

Teck Resources Ltd. is exiting the oil sands business with a $1-billion sale of its stake in the Fort Hills oil sands project to Suncor Energy Inc. to concentrate on its base metals operations.

In the largest oil-sands transaction in years, Suncor will acquire Vancouver-based Teck’s 21.3-per-cent interest, boosting its share to 75.4 per cent and further consolidating oil sands holdings in the region at a time of high oil prices. France’s TotalEnergies owns the remaining interest in Fort Hills, and has said it also plans to part with its oil sands holdings.

Teck had long signaled that it intended to sell its oil sands holding to focus on mining metals including copper and zinc – crucial for electrifying the economy – and to lower its carbon footprint. When he retired last summer, longtime chief executive officer Don Lindsay said environmentally conscious investors had avoided the Teck’s shares because of the oil sands interest. The company also mines metallurgical coal.

Suncor, Canada’s largest oil sands producer and the operator of Fort Hills, was widely viewed as the most logical buyer of the Teck interest.

“This transaction advances our strategy of pursuing industry leading copper growth and rebalancing our portfolio of high-quality assets to low-carbon metals,” Mr. Lindsay’s successor, Jonathan Price, said in a statement. Mr. Price said the company will review where to deploy the proceeds from the sale.

The deal comes with oil sands-industry profits surging due to high crude prices. The sector is also seeking to improve its reputation with investors, governments and the public through an alliance among the largest companies that has pledged to invest billions of dollars in technology to get to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

In September, TotalEnergies said it plans to spin off its oil sands interests, which also include a 50-per-cent stake in a project called Surmont, into a new publicly traded company. CEO Patrick Pouyanne said the oil sands stakes do not fit with TotalEnergies’s climate strategy.

The acquisition meets Suncor’s objectives for financial returns and fits with its strategy to “optimize” its holdings around core producing projects, interim CEO Kris Smith said in a statement. It will fund the transaction with cash from asset sales it has in the works, the company said.

With the transaction, Teck will record an after-tax, non-cash impairment charge $950-million in the third quarter of this year, it said. For its part, Suncor said it will record a non-cash charge of $2.6-billion on its existing interest.

Fort Hills, located 90 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, Alta., is the country’s newest oil sands mining project, starting operations in 2018 at a construction cost of $17-billion. It was plagued in its early years with operational problems as well as a government-mandated limit on production when the industry faced a squeeze on export pipeline capacity.

Suncor said on Wednesday that its gross output is expected to be lower than previously projected, and operating costs higher, because of “mine constraints as well as accelerated development of further mine pits for increased sustained long-term production.”