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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery lost $1.78 to $44.45 on the New York Merc, its first time below $45 since March, 2009, on another bearish report on U.S. oil supplies from the Energy Information Administration (all figures in this para U.S.). Supplies rose by 8.9 million barrels in the week ended Jan. 23. Combined with the previous week's 10.1-million-barrel increase, this is the largest two-week rise in nearly three decades, according to CIBC. Brent for March lost $1.13 to $48.47. Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $13.90 to WTI ($30.55), unchanged. Natural gas for February lost 11.5 cents to $2.86. The TSX energy index lost 10.66 points to close at 208.51.

The day brought more pain to the oil patch. Cenovus Energy Inc. (CVE) lost $1.73 to $22.94 on 6.27 million shares, after shaving $700-million from its 2015 budget, which was set at $2.5-billion to $2.7-billion on Dec. 11. The original budget assumed $77 (U.S.) oil and $3.95 (U.S.) gas. At a CIBC conference in Whistler, B.C., last week, COO and executive vice-president John Brannan indicated that Cenovus would likely lower its budget given how quickly prices have declined since its release. He said $2.1-billion was considered "committed" to expansions at the Christina Lake and Foster Creek oil sands projects. Given that the new budget is $1.8-billion to $2-billion, Cenovus has evidently delayed some of that spending (which Mr. Brannan said was an option if absolutely necessary), and it is also cancelling most of its planned work in Southern Alberta and Saskatchewan. The 26.62-cent quarterly dividend, which yields 4.6 per cent, was not mentioned and seems to be safe. Mr. Brannan said last week that Cenovus is committed to its dividend and would rather find other ways to save money. As it turns out, one of the ways is job cuts. Cenovus plans to "realign" its work force, moving employees to core divisions and reducing the number of contractors. It did not say how many jobs will be affected. Cenovus is the second big Canadian oil sands company to announce job losses in two weeks. Suncor Energy Inc. (SU: $36.74) recently announced 1,000 layoffs, mainly affecting contractors. Several service companies and international majors have also announced layoffs this month.

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