Finally some good news, as two oil sands companies report higher than expected profits.
Enbridge Inc. topped expectations as it reported a first-quarter profit of $1.89 billion, amounting to 94 cents per share for the quarter ended March 31.
The result was up from $445 million or 26 cents per share a year ago when the company was hit by a number of one-time charges.
On an adjusted basis, Enbridge told Canadian Press it earned $1.64 billion or 81 cents per share in its most recent quarter, up from $1.38 billion or 82 cents per share a year ago when it had fewer shares outstanding.
Analysts on average had expected a profit of 72 cents per share for the quarter, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon.
The results came as chief executive Al Monaco said the company’s systems were running well and near capacity.
“We’re very pleased with our strong start to 2019,” Monaco said in a statement. “In fact, we hit record throughput levels this quarter on the Liquids Mainline System. In addition, our gas transmission systems were in high demand given the colder weather we experienced in our franchises this winter, and the Ontario gas utility business hit record dispatch days in January and February.”
Athabasca Oil Corp. reported a profit of $206.8 million in its latest quarter, boosted by the sale of its Leismer pipelines and Cheecham storage terminal in northern Alberta.
The company says the profit amounted to 39 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended March 31 compared with a loss of $93.3 million or 18 cents per diluted share in first quarter of 2018.
Revenue grew to $224.2 million compared with $206 million in the same quarter last year.
Athabasca has operations in the Montney and Duvernay regions as well as the oil sands.
The company’s light oil division produced 11,712 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the quarter, up from 10,495 a year ago.
Meanwhile, bitumen production from its thermal oil operations averaged 27,494 barrels per day, down from 30,077 a year ago, due to the Alberta government’s mandated production curtailments.
(Canadian Press)
