NEWSLETTER
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd (CNQ.TO) suffered in the final quarter of 2022. Data on Thursday showed the company missed investors’ fourth-quarter earnings expectations. Severe winter weather hampered its production. The drop in liquid prices also affected the company.
In mid-December, winter storm Elliott damaged parts of the United States and Canada. It hit several oil production sites. Canadian Natural Resources had to stop production due to equipment failure for a while. Consequently, the company’s production decreased by 1.5%. It reported just 1.29 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Additionally, the crude oil market has been extremely volatile in recent months, with prices often crashing. Western sanctions on Russia due to the latter’s invasion of Ukraine worried traders. High inflation in the world’s major economies has not helped matters. Investors feared that all this would hurt energy demand and weaken the world economy. As a result, benchmark Brent crude prices plunged more than 2% in the October-December quarter.
Canadian Natural Resources announced that the realized price of its fourth-quarter liquids fell nearly 5% to Cdn$69.34 a barrel. In addition, the Alberta-based Calgary company stated that it only posted net earnings of C$1.96 per share in the quarter. That’s well below the average analyst estimate of C$2.27 per share.
Meanwhile, Russia is trying to extend its capital controls.
Russia’s central bank plans to expand capital controls on foreign transfers and cash withdrawals in foreign currency. On Thursday, Governor Elvira Nabiullina stated that officials were committed to this plan despite continued pressure on the economy.
In 2022, Russia issued strict control over foreign exchange operations in the country. The government made that decision in response to Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine. The EU severely limited the ability of Russian residents to transfer money abroad.
According to Nabiullina, many of these restrictions had been eased or lifted, but current economic conditions forced the authorities to maintain them for the foreseeable future.
