CALGARY — Oil and gas giant Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. says it can weather a crude price much lower than where it's been trading over the past month.
West Texas Intermediate, a U.S. benchmark for light oil, has been hovering around the US$60-per-barrel mark in recent weeks, about US$10 lower than it was just six months ago.
But Calgary-based Canadian Natural said it can cover maintenance capital and dividends in the low- to mid-US$40-per-barrel range, though it did not provide a breakdown of how each of its business segments would be affected.
Canadian Natural is one of Canada's biggest oilsands producers, and is also active in western Canadian natural gas shales and offshore in the United Kingdom and Cote d'Ivoire.
The company also said Thursday that it's reducing its capital spending for the year by $100 million to $6.05 billion because of cost efficiencies it managed to find.
"Importantly, this reduction will have no impact on our planned activities or targeted production volumes for 2025," CEO Scott Stauth told a conference call to discuss first-quarter results.
Canadian Natural shares were up more than five per cent to $41.84 in late-morning trading Thursday.
"(Canadian Natural) delivered another quarter of operational outperformance marked by robust production across the portfolio, with beats recorded in each of the major operating segments relative to our expectations," Desjardins Securities analyst Chris MacCulloch wrote in a research note.
Production during the first three months of 2025 averaged a record 1,582,348 barrels of oil equivalent per day, up from 1,333,502 boe/d in the same quarter last year.
Profit during the period was $2.46 billion, up from $987 million a year earlier.
The company said the profit amounted to $1.17 per diluted share for the quarter ended March 31 compared with 46 cents per diluted share a year ago.
On an adjusted basis, Canadian Natural says it earned $1.16 per diluted share from operations in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 68 cents per diluted share in the same quarter last year.
Product sales totalled $12.71 billion, up from $9.42 billion a year ago, while revenue amounted to $10.94 billion, up from $8.24 billion a year earlier.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 8, 2025.
Companies in this story: (TSX: CNQ)
Lauren Krugel, The Canadian Press
