This item is part of Stockwatch's value added news feed and is only available to Stockwatch subscribers.

Here is a sample of this item:

by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery added $2.59 to $48.48 on the New York Merc, while Brent for February added $2.10 to $48.69 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $12.80 to WTI ($35.68), up from a discount of $13.20. Natural gas for February added 29 cents to $3.23. The TSX energy index added 4.54 points to close at 203.86.

Although Wednesday was a positive day for energy investors, they have good reason to remain nervous. Yesterday after the close, Suncor Energy Inc. (SU: $34.87), Canada's largest energy company by market value, not only sheared $1-billion from its budget but also announced 1,000 layoffs. It previously set the budget at $7.2-billion to $7.8-billion on Nov. 18. The production guidance remains unchanged, because the budget reductions come mainly from discretionary capital and the deferral of long-lead projects. As for the layoffs, they will mostly affect contractors. Suncor is one of the first major Canadian companies to announce such large-scale job losses in response to low oil prices. A handful of international majors and service providers have already bitten the bullet since December, such as Halliburton (1,000 jobs in the eastern hemisphere), BP (unspecified layoffs as part of a restructuring) Houston-based camp provider Civeo (one-third of its staff in Canada) and, just last week, Shell (200 to 300 jobs in the oil sands). Yet there has been a notable lack of such announcements from Canadian majors, even though plenty of them have announced deep budget cuts. As of last week, MEG Energy Corp. (MEG: $16.57), Cenovus Energy Inc. (CVE: $23.32) and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (CNQ: $32.75) -- all of which are spending significantly less in 2015 than 2014 -- are still committed to keeping their head counts stable, reported the Calgary Herald. This means no layoffs but no new hires either. Now that Canada's largest energy company has buckled and cut jobs, fears about its smaller peers are growing even larger.

The remainder is available to Stockwatch subscribers.
Sign-up for a FREE 30-day Stockwatch subscription and SEE NO ADS