19 December 2014, News Wires – Canadian oil producers deepened 2015 spending cuts on Wednesday, as Husky Energy , MEG Energy and Penn West Petroleum joined those hacking back capital budgets in response to tumbling crude prices.
Penn West, one of Canada’s largest conventional oil producers, also cut its dividend to 3 Canadian cents per share from 14 Canadian cents.
The three are the latest in a growing list of Canadian oil companies to clamp down on investment plans for next year.
Others include Cenovus Energy, Tourmaline Oil Corp and Canadian Oil Sands Ltd, the largest-interest owner in the Syncrude oil sands project.
Late on Tuesday Whitecap Resources also dialed back its 2015 budget and reduced the number of wells it is planning to drill, while Bonavista Energy trimmed its dividend and cut spending.
Oil prices have nearly halved in the past six months due to tepid demand growth and a global supply glut, worsened by producer group OPEC’s refusal to cut output.
U.S. crude was last trading at $57.93, having slumped to a 5-1/2 year low of $53.60 on Tuesday.
– Rueters