Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau told a Senate committee Wednesday that help for the beleaguered oilpatch could be hours or days away..Morneau told the committee, the energy industry had been decimated by a combination of the record low price for a barrel of oil caused by a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia and the coronavirus crisis..“The energy sector is in a particularly challenging situation,” Morneau told the committee..“We’re also in hourly contact with the energy sector to think about how we can bridge the time by providing some sort of appropriate credit opportunities for them — and that is work that is going on right now,” he said..“I don’t have the final answer on the exact hour that that will be delivered, but I’m not talking about weeks. I’m talking about hours, potentially days, that we can ensure that there’s credit facilities for especially the small- and medium-size firms in that sector.”.Morneau didn’t give any details of the possible help but the Globe reported last week the $15-billion bailout would give companies more access to credit, especially for struggling small and medium-sized operations, and significant funding to create jobs for laid-off workers to clean up abandoned oil and gas wells..Bloomberg News estimated Canadian energy companies have slashed in capital spending for the year between $5.3 billion to $6.5 billion..Former Green Party leader Elizabeth May has called for the government not to bailout the industry and to let it die..Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said this week many oil producing companies have lost 90 per cent of their value in the last three weeks, alone..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.dnaylor@westewrnstandardonline.com.Twitter: @Nobby7694
Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau told a Senate committee Wednesday that help for the beleaguered oilpatch could be hours or days away..Morneau told the committee, the energy industry had been decimated by a combination of the record low price for a barrel of oil caused by a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia and the coronavirus crisis..“The energy sector is in a particularly challenging situation,” Morneau told the committee..“We’re also in hourly contact with the energy sector to think about how we can bridge the time by providing some sort of appropriate credit opportunities for them — and that is work that is going on right now,” he said..“I don’t have the final answer on the exact hour that that will be delivered, but I’m not talking about weeks. I’m talking about hours, potentially days, that we can ensure that there’s credit facilities for especially the small- and medium-size firms in that sector.”.Morneau didn’t give any details of the possible help but the Globe reported last week the $15-billion bailout would give companies more access to credit, especially for struggling small and medium-sized operations, and significant funding to create jobs for laid-off workers to clean up abandoned oil and gas wells..Bloomberg News estimated Canadian energy companies have slashed in capital spending for the year between $5.3 billion to $6.5 billion..Former Green Party leader Elizabeth May has called for the government not to bailout the industry and to let it die..Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said this week many oil producing companies have lost 90 per cent of their value in the last three weeks, alone..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.dnaylor@westewrnstandardonline.com.Twitter: @Nobby7694
