Oil sands stocks decimated
After crashing through the $80/barrel level on Friday, the price of US crude oil fell further on Monday to trade just above $76/barrel, the lowest in a year, sending the shares of the biggest oil sands players into a tailspin.
Suncor tumbled 5.5% and the oil sands bellwether has now lost a staggering $70 billion in market value since its pre-recession high set in May 2008. Canadian Natural Resources gave up 5.6%, Imperial Oil shed 6.5% while Cenovus lost 4.1%. Canadian heavy oil – exported only to the US due to a paucity of pipelines – sells for $10.50 less than US crude and trades at roughly $35 below the international benchmark, meaning oil sands developers have to deal with an effective oil price of $65 and change and now sell some of the cheapest fuel on the planet.