Energy market analysts say Canadian oil wells will likely continue to be shut down amid weak prices despite an agreement to limit output struck by OPEC and other major producers on the weekend.
The price of Western Canadian Select bitumen-blend oil rose by almost five per cent from Thursday’s close but remained stuck below US$5 per barrel on Monday morning as U.S.
benchmark oil inched up by an equally modest amount. Kevin Birn, a Calgary-based oil market analyst at IHS Markit, says the agreement to cut 9.7 million barrels per day of crude output is unprecedented, but it doesn’t match the demand destruction caused by measures taken to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. [ Sign up for our Health IQ newsletter for the latest coronavirus updates ]