Verity Pharma and India's SII apply to distribute AstraZeneca vaccine in Canada


By Allison Martell and Euan Rocha

© Reuters/FRANCIS MASCARENHAS FILE PHOTO: A nurse displays a vial of COVISHIELD, the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India, in Mumbai

TORONTO/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Verity Pharmaceuticals and Serum Institute of India (SII) have applied to distribute SII's licensed version of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine in Canada, potentially easing shortages as European manufacturing sites struggle to meet global demand.

AstraZeneca Canada had filed a rolling application for its vaccine with Health Canada in October, but online records show Canada's Verity Pharmaceuticals and SII on Jan. 23 filed a separate application to sell the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University researchers.

SII, the world's biggest vaccine maker, has capacity to produce roughly 2.4 million doses per day at its campus in Pune, western India.

"Verity Pharmaceuticals is providing important support to Serum Institute of India related to its regulatory registration, importation and distribution of the vaccine in Canada, pending Health Canada approval," AstraZeneca Canada and Verity said in a joint statement.

A source close to the matter said discussions are ongoing between SII and Verity but it is too early to provide details on delivery timelines or volumes that SII could ship to Canada.

SII did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Indian company's chief executive, Adar Poonawalla, told Reuters last week that SII was happy to support AstraZeneca to meet any supply needs, but he emphasised that its primary focus was India and other poorer nations in Asia and Africa.

SII has already stepped in to help AstraZeneca to fulfil some orders in South Africa, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and other nations.

Canada, with a population of about 38 million, has ordered more vaccine doses per capita than any other country and was among the first to approve the Pfizer-BioNtech and Moderna vaccines, though deliveries have been sluggish.

Pharmaceutical manufacturing is a major industry in India, and several COVID-19 vaccines are being produced in the country at scale. Canada, by contrast, is entirely dependent on imports from European manufacturing sites, and both Pfizer and Moderna have cut planned deliveries in recent weeks.

Last week the European Union rolled out a new export control regime for vaccines, including a mechanism that could block certain exports. Canadian officials say they have been assured that shipments to Canada should not be affected, but Canada is not officially exempt from the regime.

Poonawalla last week told Reuters that SII had no plans to divert supplies to Europe.

SII, which had a stockpile of about 60 million doses of the vaccine last month, is adding a third production line by March. That would allow it to produce more than 3 million doses a day of COVISHIELD, the brand name under which it markets the AstraZeneca shot.

Beyond supplying India's vaccination drive, however, SII has also committed to supply tens of millions of doses to the GAVI/WHO-backed COVAX initiative to help to accelerate vaccinations in poorer nations.

(Reporting by Allison Martell in Toronto and Euan Rocha in New Delhi; Editing by David Goodman)

CAPITALIST CONSULTATION; DO IT OUR WAY

Baffinland says it won’t budge on proposed railway route

Baffinland says there’s no turning back on the route for the 110-km railroad it wants to build to expand its Mary River iron mine, which it says became finalized when the company struck the Inuit Certainty Agreement with the Qikiqtani Inuit Association.

But the QIA sees things differently. In an email to Nunatsiaq News, the association said that under that agreement, struck in July 2020, Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. “committed to determining whether there is community support” for the route during the hearings of the Nunavut Impact Review Board.

“To QIA’s knowledge the issue of community support remains unresolved,” said QIA’s statement.

The hamlet of Pond Inlet and the Mittimatalik Hunters and Trappers Organization remain opposed to the route, which would run from the Mary River mine, northeast to its port at Milne Inlet. They have expressed concerns that the railroad will scare away caribou.

The Nunavut Impact Review Board’s final hearing on Baffinland’s expansion plans began its second week Monday. Last week, presentations by the company asserted that the railway route was made final by the multi-million-dollar agreement struck with QIA.

Megan Lord-Hoyle, Baffinland’s vice-president of sustainable development, told the hearing Thursday the mine remained committed to the route, despite ongoing concerns raised by community organizations.

Baffinland says the current route, which it calls called Route 3, takes into account earlier concerns raised about the company’s first route proposal that would have closely followed the existing tote road. A second route, proposed by local Inuit, was deemed unsafe by Baffinland. The company maintains that Route 3hree would have the smallest impact on caribou — as well as the lowest fuel consumption for its trains — of the three routes.

Baffinland’s critics, meanwhile, say the company still lacks data on the proposed route.

On, Jan. 28, in a response to a question from Igloolik Mayor Merlyn Recinos, Lord-Hoyle said Baffinland has not completed a geotechnical study of the route, to test the ground’s stability.

Baffinland later clarified in an email to Nunatsiaq News that geotechnical work began in 2020 and will continue in 2021 to “define the exact engineering requirements” but not to change the route.

“It is important to note that regardless of them being completed or not, it does not change our commitment that this is the route that we would construct should phase two be approved,” Lord-Hoyle said during Thursday’s session.

Andrew Dumbrille, World Wildlife Fund Canada’s lead specialist on marine shipping and conservation, said in an interview with Nunatsiaq News that without this study being complete, the route could see unexpected changes made after it’s already accepted.

The study shows whether “a certain geological area can sustain the full weight and construction of a railroad. And they haven’t done that,” he said. “With a project of this magnitude, we shouldn’t be giving Baffinland a blank cheque.”

Baffinland says other studies support its preferred railroad route, with focuses on caribou safety, sustainability and traditional knowledge.

And the current railway route, it said, is a direct result of working with Inuit.

David Venn, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunatsiaq News

Pardon for 'Dreamers'? Some activists tout amnesty for undocumented immigrants if Congress doesn't act

In his first few days in office, President Joe Biden moved swiftly to deliver on promises to Hispanic voters, signing a directive to protect "Dreamers" from deportation and unveiling an outline for sweeping changes to immigration laws.

Tuesday afternoon, the president announced a task force to reunite families separated at the border and an executive order that reviews a Trump administration policy requiring migrants seeking asylum to wait in Mexico while they plead their case.

But executive actions are not permanent, and the White House already has begun tamping down hopes for passage of an omnibus reform measure.

That leaves some Latino advocacy groups looking at an untested fallback plan: a mass presidential pardon for at least some of the estimated 11 million people in the country illegally.

“We believe this is a viable option if the Senate fails to act on comprehensive immigration reform,” said Domingo Garcia, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens.

Reversing Trump: Biden to create task force to reunite families separated at border, sign order to review asylum program

Reuniting families: 628 parents remain separated from their kids after Trump's zero-tolerance border policy. Biden wants to find them.

Hector Sánchez Barba, executive director at Mi Familia Vota,said congressional action is the top priority, and Biden has put forth “the most progressive plan I’ve seen, probably in our history.”

But if Congress fails to reform immigration laws, he said, “I am in an action mode. … We will advocate for anything that reverses the extremism and damage” of the Trump administration.

It is unclear how Biden would respond if pressed to pursue a mass pardon. Moreover, not all immigrant-rights advocates want to pursue that controversial path while there is a chance Congress could act.

Jorge Loweree, policy director with the American Immigration Council, said a presidential pardon for immigration violators falls short because “it wouldn’t put people on a path to citizenship; it would just cure one of the barriers to getting there.”

© Evan Vucci, AP President Joe Biden signs his first executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. Six of Biden's 17 first-day executive orders dealt with immigration, such as halting work on a border wall in Mexico and lifting a travel ban on people from several predominantly Muslim countries.

The clemency proposition is not new. In late 2016, before Trump was inaugurated, Garcia and others feared the new president would launch draconian deportations of undocumented immigrants – especially those brought to the United States as children, called "Dreamers" based on never-passed proposals in Congress called the DREAM Act.

Dozens of advocacy groups and at least three Democrats in Congress implored then-President Barack Obama to issue last-minute amnesty. In a letter to the president, Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California and her colleagues described the proposed pardon as “a matter of life and death” for many of the nation’s 11 million undocumented immigrants.

Obama denied the request. And Trump carried out his promised crackdown.

© Richard Vogel, AP Protesters gather at the federal courthouse in Los Angeles in June 2018 to object to the Trump administration's separation of migrant children from their parents at the U.S. border with Mexico.

Biden acts to undo Trump's immigration policies

Trump’s promise of a border wall was the hallmark of his first presidential campaign. In office, he tried to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which allows people brought to the U.S. as children to remain in the country, but he was largely blocked by court rulings. As part of a "zero tolerance" policy for illegal entry, children were separated from parents at the southern border. The administration tried to prevent most migrants from claiming political asylum and required those seeking asylum to wait in Mexico.

Cut to 2020 and Biden’s platform was the polar opposite: He vowed to stop construction of Trump's southern border wall, protect "Dreamers" and overhaul U.S. immigration laws that have not changed significantly in three decades.

On his first day in office, Biden signed an executive memorandum reinstating DACA and unveiled a sweeping immigration reform package.

Under that proposal, agricultural workers, people who arrived illegally as children and immigrants with what is known as temporary protected status would immediately qualify for green cards – giving them legal status and a right to work. Other undocumented immigrants in the United States as of Jan. 1 would receive temporary legal status for five years, with a path to citizenship if they passed background checks and paid taxes

.

© Mario Tama, Getty Images Mexican immigrant Vicky Uriostegui, who has lived in the U.S. for 27 years, hauls out water hoses at dawn on a farm in fields near Turlock, California. Agriculture is the main economic driver in the region, and most field work is done by immigrants.

Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, a Republican who had supported a bipartisan immigration reform plan, ripped Biden’s legislative plan as “mass amnesty” – the exact words used by Trump loyalist Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.

Meanwhile, congressional Democrats who once pushed Obama to pardon "Dreamers" went silent.

Lofgren, a former immigration attorney and the most recent chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship, declined to comment on whether she may ask Biden to use his pardon power.

In a written statement, she said she’s focused on working with the president “to advance our shared bold vision to reform our country’s immigration system.”

Other members of the House and Senate did not respond to emails and calls. Neither did a White House spokesman.
A constitutional ‘gray area’

On Jan. 21, 1977, more than 570,000 American offenders were given pardons.

It was the first full day in office for President Jimmy Carter, and he used it to grant amnesty to Vietnam-era draft dodgers. Nearly 210,000 had been charged with violating the Selective Service Act. Another 360,000 dodged but were not prosecuted.

© AP President Jimmy Carter extended a pardon to over 200,000 Vietnam anti-draft resisters in 1977.

Article II, Clause 1 of the Constitution is terse and clear: “The President … shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.”

The authority covers all violations of federal law and may be used absolutely or conditionally, according to Cornell University Law School’s Legal Information Institute. It includes a presumed power “to pardon specified classes or communities wholesale, in short, the power to amnesty.”

Draft dodgers were nowhere near the first to benefit from mass clemency. Three years earlier, President Gerald Ford granted a conditional pardon to military deserters who were willing to perform public service.

In fact, presidents throughout history granted amnesty to large groups, beginning with the first pardon issued by George Washington in 1795 to participants in a tax revolt known as the Whiskey Rebellion.

Andrew Johnson gave amnesty to all Confederate soldiers after the Civil War. And, in 1902, Theodore Roosevelt granted amnesty to residents of the Philippines – then a U.S. territory – who took part in an insurrection.

Yet, according to legal experts, no president has ever pardoned someone for illegal immigration during the nation’s 245-year history. Presidential pardons historically have addressed criminal violations; entering or being in the country unlawfully is a civil offense unless it's a repeat violation.

Peter Markowitz, a professor at the Cardozo School of Law, acknowledged it's a legal “gray area.” But he said immigration violations – civil or criminal – clearly constitute offenses, and there is “ample reason to believe it is within a president’s pardon authority.”

In a 2017 law review article co-written with Lindsay Nash, Markowitz advocated just such an action, writing: “The President possesses the constitutional authority to categorically pardon broad classes of immigrants for civil violations of the immigration laws and to thereby provide durable and permanent protections against deportation.”

Other experts say it's not so clear-cut, especially without any Supreme Court precedent on pardons for civil offenses. Some argue that a person in the United States illegally commits an ongoing violation. Pardon power may not be exercised to erase future offenses.

Markowitz conceded that executive clemency is an “imperfect solution” because, while it would protect undocumented immigrants from deportation, it would not grant them legal status or rights.

“Everybody would prefer that this type of durable protection be delivered through legislation,” Markowitz said. But if that proves impossible, clemency at least gives undocumented immigrants peace of mind that they can’t be deported.
'We knew what was coming' with Trump

Despite legal uncertainties and a likely political backlash, Markowitz suggested using pardon power for immigrants would have been worth it four years ago.

In a 2016 opinion piece, Raul A. Reyes, an immigration attorney and member of USA TODAY’s board of contributors, argued that by inviting young "Dreamers" to sign up for DACA, Democrats later exposed them to deportation under the Trump administration.

“It would be a cruel irony if Obama were to turn his back on those here illegally – through no fault of their own – after he helped expose them to risk of deportation,” he concluded.

David Leopold, immigration counsel for America’s Voice, which advocates a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, said it made sense to consider amnesty at the close of Obama’s presidency because Trump had characterized immigrants as criminals.

“We knew the extremism. We knew the xenophobia. We knew what was coming,” said Leopold, who served as a volunteer adviser in the Biden campaign.

But as Biden’s presidency begins, Leopold does not see presidential pardon power as a serious consideration because about 80% of Americans favor changes in law to protect undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children.

“The answer right now is legislative,” Leopold said. “There’s a moment in history right now when we can do it. … Hopefully, Congress will step up to the plate.”

Doris Meissner, former commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, said it would be a legal and political stretch for Biden to simply pardon people who entered the United States unlawfully – a “very out-of-the-blue proposition,” as she put it.

“I’m just having a hard time figuring out how the pardon power … could be justified for that,” said Meissner, now a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute.
Some say it's not the time to talk pardons

Ira Mehlman, media director with the Federation for Immigration Reform, which advocates for strict immigration enforcement and controls, said mass clemency would constitute a “huge overreach” by the president.

In a podcast four years ago, he noted, Cecilia Muñoz, then director of the Obama White House’s Domestic Policy Council, declared that pardons "wouldn’t protect a single soul from deportation.”

Some immigrant rights advocates also resist talk of amnesty, at least for now, for fear it would undermine the push for legislation.

Kristian Ramos of Autonomy Strategies, a communications firm specializing in Latino issues, said Biden’s executive order protecting DACA recipients and immigrants in temporary protected status has, for now, solved the most pressing problem.

“They’re protected,” Ramos said. “He has essentially provided the … reprieve that he could. There’s no real need to pardon them.”

Juliana Macedo do Nascimento, a DACA recipient from Brazil and policy manager with United We Dream, declined to address the amnesty question in a written statement.

Instead, she stressed that Biden and Democrats “have a mandate from the people” to transform America's immigration system. “President Biden must use every tool at his disposal to provide relief for as many people as possible," she said.

“We are tired and not satisfied by executive actions,” said Fernando Garcia, executive director with Border Network for Human Rights. “We need to actually change the law.”

Garcia expressed doubt that Biden would consider amnesty even if legislation fails. “I don’t think it’s realistic that any president is going to say, ‘We’re going to pardon 600,000 Dreamers or 1.2 million Dreamers,’” he said. “And I don’t believe Dreamers are guilty of any offense.”

Loweree, with the American Immigration Council, said America’s support for "Dreamers" is higher than ever, and the president has a “unique opportunity” to fulfill campaign promises beginning with announcements Tuesday.

Loweree said he doesn’t buy into claims that Biden has a debt to Hispanics who helped him get elected. “The issue here isn’t who owes anyone anything,” he said. Rather, it’s about fulfilling a promise made during the Obama administration: "'Dreamers' who came out of the shadows and signed up for DACA were told they’d be protected and allowed to work, not deported."

With that in mind, Loweree suggested talk of presidential amnesty cannot be dismissed entirely: “We expect President Biden will do everything in his power – and consider all options.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: A pardon for 'Dreamers'? Some activists tout amnesty for undocumented immigrants if Congress doesn't act

More Than 100 Democrats Call for Repeal of Trump Tax Break Benefitting Millionaires


A group of Democrats has written to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer urging them to repeal a Trump-era tax break that disproportionately benefits millionaires.© Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) listens as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks during a press conference on Capitol Hill on December 20, 2020 in Washington, DC. A group of 120 Democrats have urged the leadership to repeal a Trump era tax cut that benefits millionaires.

Senator Sheldon White (D-RI) and Texas Congressman Lloyd Doggett led the group of 120 Democrats in the House and Senate in calling for the tax cut to be reversed.

"As we continue to debate allocating limited resources to stimulate the economy, we write to bring your attention to costly tax breaks for so-called 'net operating losses' that Republicans tucked into the CARES Act," the letter read.

CARES—the Coronavirus Relief and Economic Security Act—was a $2.2 trillion stimulus package that also contained the controversial tax cut.

"These special-interest giveaways will confer over 80 percent of the benefits to just over 43,000 taxpayers, each earning at least $1 million per year," the Democrats' letter went on.

"We urge you to repeal these unwarranted tax cuts," they say, citing Pelosi's proposed HEROES plans, which have repealed the tax break.

"This would save over $250 billion which should be repurposed to help Americans who have lost income due to the pandemic and its economic fallout," the group of Democrats said.

BREAKING: @SenWhitehouse, @LloydDoggettTX, @RepCohen + @rosadelauro just sent a letter with over 120 signers calling on Democratic leadership to repeal the tax breaks for millionaires Senate Republicans slipped into COVID relief last year.

Its repeal would generate $250 billion. pic.twitter.com/UNGj2mAJX3— Americans For Tax Fairness (@4TaxFairness) February 3, 2021

The letter to Pelosi and Schumer also argued the tax cuts "benefit a narrow set of high-income taxpayers, including hedge funds, real estate developers, and likely the Trump family."

"The repeal of NOL [net operating losses] in the CARES Act had little to do with pandemic relief and arbitrarily rewards business who lost money before the pandemic began.

"Making matters worse, unlike the small business relief provided through the Paycheck Protection Program, these windfalls come with no strings attached to ensure they support payroll or critical business operations."

The tax cut applied to losses incurred between 2018 and 2020 and eliminating it could raise $250 billion over the course of 10 years, the Democrats said. Some of this would be brought in by "clawing back" money from companies that have already filed taxes and benefited from the CARES Act cut.

"The best place to start for Republicans urging more narrowly-targeted relief is eliminating the $250 billion bonanza for hedge fund managers and real estate speculators they previously tucked into the CARES Act," Whitehouse and Doggett said in a separate statement.

"With 120 Democratic lawmakers, we urge negotiators to halt the windfall to the least needy and reinvest in the most needy."

The letter comes as Democrats appear set to push ahead with new stimulus without Republican support. The proposed package would be worth $1.9 trillion.

I AM SHOCKED

Sports billionaires got $98.5 billion richer during the pandemic

© REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton Kansas City Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes

celebrates with the Vince Lombardi trophy after winning the Super Bowl LIV. 

During the pandemic, billionaires who own sports franchises added $98.5 billion to their net worths.

That includes the owners of the two teams headed to the Super Bowl.

Some players opted out of the last NFL season over coronavirus concerns.

Over the past 10 months, 64 billionaires who own 68 professional sports teams have seen their collective net worths grow by $98.5 billion, according to a new report from the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF).

Using data from Forbes and Wealth-X, the report found that from March 18, 2020, to January 29, 2021, sports billionaires had seen their wealth increase from a combined $325 billion to $426 billion.

Several of those billionaires will see their teams compete at this year's Super Bowl. The owners of the Kansas City Chiefs are the Hunt family. Specifically, Ray Lee Hunt and W. Herbert Hunt, who have a collective net worth of around $6.3 billion, have seen a $482 million boost to their net worth during the pandemic, the report said. And the Glazer family, who own the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, are worth around $1.7 billion.

These increases probably had little to do with football, as The Wall Street Journal reported last July that the pandemic would likely blow a hole as large as $4 billion in NFL revenue for the season.

For the past few decades, $9 billion in taxpayer subsidies have been given to 28 sports teams owned by 26 billionaires, the report said. The report's authors argue that the gains by sports billionaires underscore the need for a wealth tax.

"The Super Bowl brings the whole nation together, but we have not come together as a country to beat the pandemic," Frank Clemente, executive director for Americans for Tax Fairness, said in a statement. "Billionaire sports owners have continued their long winning streak of ever-growing fortunes while fans at home are losing their lives and livelihoods. Real teamwork would require billionaires to pay their fair share of taxes so we can get the whole US back to its winning ways."

The Chiefs did not respond to Insider's request for comment, and the Buccaneers did not immediately respond.

Billionaires have seen huge gains during the pandemic

Globally, billionaires made $3.9 trillion between March 18 and December 30, 2020. In fact, the gains by the top 10 richest billionaires could pay for the entire world to get vaccinated - and to keep everyone out of poverty.

Meanwhile, workers lost $3.7 trillion in earnings throughout the pandemic. American workers saw the largest loss with a 10.3% decline; overall, women and younger workers were disproportionately impacted by employment losses.

Even some of the usual faces didn't appear on the NFL roster this year: many of its workers. ESPN's Elizabeth Merrill reported that 69 players voluntarily sat out the season. Players who opted out received stipends, with those who were at high risk receiving more. From August 1 through January, 262 NFL players - and 462 "other personnel" - tested positive for COVID-19.

So far, American billionaires have added $1.1 trillion to their collective net worths during the pandemic. Over 10 million Americans remain unemployed, and nearly 8 million have fallen into poverty in the past few months.

Pandemic drives oil major BP to first loss in a decade

By Ron Bousso and Shadia Nasralla

© Reuters/Toby Melville FILE PHOTO:

 Detail is seen on a BP (British Petroleum) EV (Electric Vehicle) charge point in London

LONDON (Reuters) - BP plunged to a $5.7 billion loss last year, its first in a decade, as the pandemic took a heavy toll on oil demand, and the energy company warned of a tough start to 2021 amid widespread travel restrictions.

Despite the weak environment, however, CEO Bernard Looney told Reuters the company's transition to a greener future remained on track. It is aiming to ramp up renewable power generation to 50 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 from 3.3 GW currently, while slashing oil output to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Capital expenditure is set to rise to $13 billion this year, of which $9 billion will still go to oil and gas, Chief Financial Officer Murray Auchincloss said. That compared with a budget of $12 billion in 2020.

For the last quarter of 2020, BP reported a profit of $115 million, falling short of analysts' forecasts due to weak oil and gas sales and subdued trading, it said on Tuesday.

"A tough quarter at the end of a tough year," Looney said in an analyst call.

At 0845 GMT, BP shares were down 3.8% at 258.9 pence.

Flagging a weak start to 2021, BP said: "We expect renewed COVID-19 restrictions to have a greater impact on product demand, with January retail volumes down by around 20% year on year, compared with a decline of 11% in the fourth quarter."

Oil demand is nevertheless expected to recover in 2021, with global inventories expected to return to their five-year average by the middle of the year, Looney told Reuters.

For a graphic on BP's annual profits:

https://graphics.reuters.com/BP-RESULTS/ygdpzalwrvw/chart.png

Tighter global natural gas markets are expected to further support profits, BP said.

Adjusted profit at its downstream - or refining and marketing - business in the fourth quarter collapsed to $126 million, less than a tenth of what it was a year earlier.

BP's shares have lost over 40% of their value over the past year and remain near 25-year lows, battered by concerns over oil demand due to the pandemic as well as investor doubts over BP's ability to successfully carry out its an ambitious plan to shift away from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

Rivals including Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil have also seen their market values sink in recent months.

BP's overall fourth-quarter underlying replacement cost profit, its definition of net income, of $115 million fell short of the $360 million seen in a company-provided poll of analysts.

That compared with an $86 million profit in the third quarter and a profit of $2.6 billion a year earlier.

For the year, BP reported an underlying loss of $5.69 billion, compared with a profit of $10 billion in 2019.

For a graphic on BP's quarterly profit:

https://graphics.reuters.com/BP-RESULTS/jbyprnwrkpe/chart.png

BP's debt pile of $39 billion is expected to rise in the first half of this year as it continues to struggle with a weak business environment, but the company said it remained on track to reduce it to $35 billion by early 2022.

At that debt level, BP plans to start share buybacks.

BP's dividend remained at 5.25 cents per share.

(Reporting by Ron Bousso and Shadia Nasralla. Editing by Jason Neely and Mark Potter)

IMPERIAL IS CANADIAN FOR EXXON

After massive writedown, Imperial Oil says no big projects in coming years

© Provided by Financial Post The Imperial Oil Strathcona Refinery in Alberta.

CALGARY – Imperial Oil Ltd. president and CEO Brad Corson told investors not to expect the company to announce major new projects in the coming years as the impact of a tough 2020 will continue to reverberate for some time.

“No one is sad to see 2020 behind us. The year presented us with some extreme challenges and as a result, we unfortunately experienced an earnings loss for the year,” Corson said on an investor call Tuesday, in which the company announced a $1.1-billion loss for the fourth quarter, down from net earnings of $271 million a year earlier.

The entirety of that loss came from a $1.1-billion non-cash charge stemming from the company’s decision not to develop a large swath of unconventional natural gas assets in Canada. That decision was first disclosed in Nov. 2020 when parent company Exxon Mobil Corp. announced a broader US$20-billion writedown across its portfolio.

Exxon, which controls nearly 70 per cent of Imperial, also reported Tuesday a net annual loss of US$22.4 billion for 2020, on the writedown and losses in oil production and refining, compared with a full-year profit of US$14.34 billion in 2019.

Corson said Imperial would focus on “only the most attractive portions of its unconventional portfolio.” He also noted that in the coming years, the company would not build large, new projects and instead focus on “smaller, select growth opportunities.”

“For the next few years, we want to continue to focus on our existing assets.” Corson said. “We’re being very conscious about not progressing major new greenfield projects. We think that’s prudent in this environment.”

© Imperial Oil Imperial Oil Ltd posted a loss of $1.15 billion, or $1.56 per share, for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31.

Imperial stopped work on its $2.6-billion Aspen oilsands project in late 2019 amid a dispute about oil production quotas in Alberta. That project now appears to be stalled for a long time.

“Market conditions continued to reflect considerable uncertainty throughout 2020 as consumer and business activity has exhibited some degree of recovery, but remained lower when compared with prior periods as a result of the pandemic,” the company said in a statement.

Despite the actions taken by key oil-producing countries to reduce oversupply, “unfavourable economic impact appears increasingly likely to persist to some extent well into 2021,” Imperial added.

Despite the muted outlook, the Calgary-based company ramped up its highest production level in 30 years in the latest quarter.

Imperial has been working to debottleneck that led to its massive Kearl facility pumping out 284,000 bpd in the fourth quarter, compared to an outage-hit third quarter that saw output from the mine at 189,000 bpd. Imperial’s overall production in the fourth quarter is up to 460,000 barrels of oil per day, up roughly 16 per cent from the same period a year earlier.

“We expect the Street to be encouraged by the continued improvement in performance at Kearl, providing added comfort in the 2021 outlook and the longer-term goal of reaching sustained rates of 280,000 bpd,” Raymond James analyst Chris Cox wrote in a Tuesday research note, adding that Imperial’s results were better than analysts expected.

Shares in Imperial fell nearly 4 per cent to $24.21 at close on Tuesday. By comparison, parent company Exxon Mobil, which lost a quarter of its value in the past 12 months, closed up roughly 1.6 per cent, to US$45.63 on the New York Stock Exchange.

© Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images files Exxon controls nearly 70 per cent of Imperial.

“The (Exxon) turnaround story will take some time,” said Biraj Borkhataria, analyst with RBC Capital Markets, noting that the company is not yet covering its dividend and capital spending with cash from operations.

But with oil prices recovering, Exxon can start to cover its dividend and begin paying down the US$68 billion in debt on its balance sheet, analysts said.

U.S. oil crude prices rose 2.3 per cent on Tuesday to US$54.76, after hitting a session high of US$55.26, the highest in a year.

Shares in Exxon, have also traded up this week following a Wall Street Journal report that the international oil giant previously held talks with rival super major Chevron Corp. over a potential merger.

A combination of the two companies would result in an oil giant with a US$350 billion market capitalization and analysts say it could potentially lead to more mergers in an industry that’s dealing with depressed share prices and looking to reduce costs.

Analysts say a potential merger between Exxon and Chevron might also affect Imperial Oil.

“When we had the last round of super major mergers in the late ‘90s, we also saw mergers here in Canada so companies were chasing the same thing — they were chasing those efficiencies,” said Randy Ollenberger, an analyst with BMO Capital Markets.

At the time, Ollenberger said BP Plc’s US$48.2-billion acquisition of Amoco in 1998 led the combined company to divest Amoco Canada, which was in turn purchased by Imperial Oil.

But a merger today between Exxon and Chevron might lead to Imperial Oil being divested from the combined company.

Burning Questions: Will Canada’s most oil-dependent provinces bounce back next year?
Exxon to cut up to 300 jobs in Canada, including jobs at Imperial Oil
Canadian oil rises as diluent pipeline outage shuts Imperial’s Kearl oilsands site
Why Norway fund’s divestment from the oilsands could trigger a bigger fund exodus

“In the large cap space, there’s just not a lot of companies left to merge up,” Ollenberger said. “For example, if the Exxon/Chevron merger proceeded, would Imperial Oil be a disposition candidate as part of that?”

The Canadian energy industry has been mired in a long-term downturn that has led to a series of mergers in recent years, including Cenovus Energy Inc.’s acquisition of Husky Energy Inc., Suncor Energy Inc.’s purchase of Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.’s purchase of Devon Energy’s Canadian business and Shell Canada Ltd.’s oilsands business in recent years.

“We do believe that we’re in an M&A cycle and it’s driven by the fact that the market doesn’t want companies to grow their production organically,” said Phil Skolnick, an analyst with Eight Capital in New York.

Skolnick said he’s not convinced U.S. regulators would allow Exxon and Chevron to merge, but it could lead to a wave of oil mergers if it were ever allowed.

A series of mergers by Canadian oilpatch companies in 2020 led to short-term share price bumps for acquirers such as Whitecap Resources Ltd. and Cenovus Energy Inc. but “then it stopped working,” Skolnick said, noting those share-price gains have since reverted back to their pre-deal levels.

With files from Thomson Reuters

• Email: gmorgan@nationalpost.com | Twitter: geoffreymorgan

Exxon is slashing workers and cutting costs after a historic year of loss. Here's everything we know.

© Mark Schiefelbein/Getty; Skye Gould/Business Insider Exxon CEO Darren Woods Mark Schiefelbein/Getty; Skye Gould/Business Insider
Exxon has cut costs and is shrinking its workforce after one of the worst years in the company's history.
Here's everything we know about the cuts, from layoffs to reduced employee benefits.
Do you have information about Exxon? Reach out to this reporter at bjones@businessinsider.com or through the encrypted messaging app Signal at 646-768-1657.
For more stories like this, sign up here for our weekly energy newsletter.

Exxon Mobil suffered a historic blow in 2020, as the pandemic dried up demand for its products at a time when the company's stock was already in decline. For the first time ever, Exxon reported four straight quarters of loss amounting to more than $22 billion for the full year.

Exxon, the nation's largest oil company, devoted much of its attention last year to slashing costs so it could regain its footing. The company reduced its capital budget by almost $12 billion and lowered its operating expenses by $8 billion, partly by cutting workers and employee benefits.

Exxon's market value has fallen about 28% over the last 12 months, and there could be more cuts to come. Here's everything we know so far. © Kena Betancur/VIEWpress/Corbis via Getty Images Kena Betancur/VIEWpress/Corbis via Getty Images
Exxon was restructuring before the pandemic hit

The firm reorganized its downstream division in 2018 and the upstream division in 2019. That year, Exxon also established a new business unit - Global Projects - focused on project development.

When the price of oil crashed, Exxon said those changes helped, but further cuts would be needed.

"I wish I could say we were finished, but we are not," Woods said in an email to employees in October. "We still have some significant headwinds, more work to do and, unfortunately, further reductions are necessary."

Today, Exxon is organized into nine business divisions. It's not clear to what extent the company's core structure changed in response to the spending and workforce cuts, though Exxon formed a new business this year focused on low-emissions technologies after investors pressured the company to do more to address climate change. 

Video: Granholm: Renewable energy a 'massive opportunity' (USA TODAY)

We mapped out those divisions, in addition to seven other core areas of the company, in an exclusive org chart. It includes 138 of Exxon's top employees.

Read more: We mapped out the power structure at Exxon and identified 138 of the oil giant's top employees. Here's our exclusive org chart.

Exxon is trimming its global workforce by 15%, which includes steep cuts in the US and Europe

As Business Insider first reported, Exxon is slashing its global workforce by 15%, or 14,000 people, through 2022, relative to the company's headcount in 2019. The cuts include both contractors and employees. 

Up to 1,900 of the job cuts will be in the US, including at least 723 from the Houston area. Click here for a timeline of the reductions and insight into how Exxon will decide which workers to lay off, as revealed by leaked documents we obtained.

Another 1,600 jobs or so could be cut in Europe. We explain which roles are at risk here, and you can read the letter the firm's CEO, Darren Woods, sent employees following the cuts here.
Exxon also said it would lay off about 300 workers in Canada, starting in December, according to a public press release and an internal memo we obtained. The cuts are involuntary and most of them will take place by February of 2021, per the memo. 

In addition, the company launched a voluntary redundancy program in Australia. It's not clear how many roles the program will impact.

Part of Exxon's approach to shrinking spending is sending jobs overseas to cheap centers of labor, we reported.

© Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images

The firm used its employee-ranking process to cut workers in the weeks after oil markets crashed

In April, Exxon quietly made a change to the way it ranks employees, forcing managers to dub a larger chunk of employees as poor performers, putting them at risk of being cut.
Leaked audio from an internal meeting suggests not all employees placed in that category were, in fact, poor performers. That's why workers we spoke to called the change to the ranking system a layoff in disguise.

Exxon's performance-based cuts, initiated this summer, put as much as 10% of the company's workforce at risk of losing their jobs. You can find all the details of the ranking system and the April change here. 

The government of Singapore is probing Exxon's labor practices after employees raised concerns about the company's performance-based cuts. 

Other changes to curb spending

Exxon has said publicly that it began restructuring years before the pandemic drove down the price of oil, in part, to curb spending. In the last few months, however, the firm has made a handful of other changes to cut costs. 

Over the summer the company suspended a handful of employee benefits including its matching program for retirement savings, as Business Insider first reported. 

The company slashed its capital spending budget for 2020 by almost $12 billion, down to $21.4 billion. Next year Exxon plans to spend even less. 

Exxon also lowered its annual operating expenses by $8 billion, the company said Tuesday. $3 billion of that was from "structural reductions," indicating that it's likely tied to workforce cuts. The firm plans to cut an additional $3 billion in structural expenses by 2023.

This story was originally published on November 6. We updated it to include information from the company's fourth-quarter earnings report. 

Read the original article on Business Insider

An industry 'operating on borrowed time’: Energy experts on the increasing risks ahead for Big Oil

In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic coincided with a historic demand shock, falling commodity prices, evaporating profits, unprecedented write-downs and tens of thousands of job cuts.

The torrent of bad news prompted the head of the International Energy Agency to suggest it may come to represent the worst year in the history of oil markets.

Speaking via videoconference at the Baker Hughes 2021 annual meeting last week, U.S. energy historian Dan Yergin said: "I think we are still somewhat in a Covid fog and to be absolutely sure about where things are going is not clear."

© Provided by CNBC A general view of Gunvor Petroleum or Rozenburg refinery in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Europe’s largest port covers 105 square kilometers (41 square miles) and stretches over a distance of 40 kilometers (25 miles).

LONDON — Big Oil endured a brutal 12 months by virtually every measure last year and the global oil and gas industry faces significant challenges and uncertainties as it seeks to recover.

In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic coincided with a historic demand shock, falling commodity prices, evaporating profits, unprecedented write-downs and tens of thousands of job cuts.

The torrent of bad news prompted the head of the International Energy Agency to suggest it may come to represent the worst year in the history of oil markets.

As oil and gas supermajors seek to reassure investors about a return to profitability in the coming months, energy experts are split on how quickly the industry will transition away from fossil fuels.

"This is an industry that is facing mounting uncertainty," Carroll Muffett, chief executive at the non-profit Center for International Environmental Law, told CNBC via telephone.

"The uncertainties associated with the pandemic are going to continue largely unabated at least through the first half of this year as vaccinations continue to roll-out, but the uncertainties that are arriving from the long-term disconnect between this business model and climate realities, those are only growing — and they are not going to abate," Muffett said.

The latest setback for the oil and gas industry came as S&P Global ratings — one of the most influential rating companies — warned last week that it may cut the credit score on a number of major producers, including ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell and Total.

The rating firm said it believes "the energy transition, price volatility, and weaker profitability are increasing risks for oil and gas producers."

The industry faces growing pressure from policymakers around the world, with the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden quickly making tackling the climate emergency a top priority.

'You don't just change that overnight'

"Was 2019 peak oil? That's very likely. Even if 2019 proves not to have been peak oil, this is an industry that is really operating on borrowed time," Muffett said. "That's why you see at least some of the majors starting to recognize that they need to more aggressively build a portfolio beyond oil."

He highlighted that Shell and to some extent BP had both sought to pivot to a strategy less dependent on oil and gas, whereas Exxon had ostensibly decided to stick to a more rigid business model. "You ask which of these companies is more likely to survive and I think the answer is clear."

Exxon was not immediately available to comment when contacted by CNBC on Tuesday. The U.S. oil major is due to report its latest quarterly results and full-year earnings later in the session.

Speaking via videoconference at the Baker Hughes 2021 annual meeting, U.S. energy historian Dan Yergin said: "I think we are still somewhat in a Covid fog and to be absolutely sure about where things are going is not clear."

His outlook for the industry chimes with other major forecasters. The IEA and OPEC both said in their latest respective monthly oil market assessments that 2021 was still clouded by pandemic fears.

Yergin, who is also vice chairman of IHS Markit, said he expected global GDP (gross domestic product) to bounce back to where it was in 2019 by the end of the third quarter, with fuel demand likely to climb back to pre-pandemic levels by 2022.

A rise in Covid infections has led to renewed lockdown measures and travel restrictions, limiting mobility worldwide and hampering an oil demand recovery. It's hoped that a mass rollout of Covid vaccines could help to bring an end to the pandemic that has claimed 2.2 million lives worldwide

.

© Provided by CNBC A Surgutneftegas worker near pumpjacks in Surgut Region of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area - Yugra, in the West Siberian petroleum basin.

"Directionally, it is clear that the world is going towards lower carbon, but I think the scale of it is not fully understood," Yergin said on the topic of energy transition. "In 2019, we had a $87 (trillion) to $88 trillion world economy that depended upon fossil fuels for 80% of its energy. You don't just change that overnight."

Yergin said that while there are different meanings when it comes to energy transition, carbon capture in some form would have to be part of the mix. "Some people just reject that idea, but the numbers just don't work without it," he added.

"So, I think there is a transition, it just takes time. I think oil and gas are going to end up being an important part of it for a long time."

Carbon capture refers to the capturing of planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions in an effort to keep the climate crisis in check. Very little progress on the development of carbon capture technology has been made to date.

The IEA said last year that a substantial rise in the deployment of carbon capture technology would be necessary if countries were to meet net-zero emissions targets.

Biden has since pledged to accelerate the development of the technology.
Renewable energy

"Last year was just dreadful and so even if they just go back … to the middle of the pack, that is a step up," Clark Williams-Derry, energy finance analyst at IEEFA, a non-profit organization, told CNBC via telephone.

His comments referred to the energy sector closing out 2020 in last place on the S&P 500. It has placed at the bottom of the stock market index in five out of the last seven years.

"The energy sector could do better this year than it did last year, who knows," Williams-Derry said. "At the same time, what we are identifying are long-term threats that the supermajors are facing, and the global oil and gas industry are now facing."

© Provided by CNBC A SunPower executive on site at the California Valley Solar Farm near Santa Margarita, Calif., in San Luis Obispo County.

Williams-Derry said that, in addition to the Covid pandemic, the global oil and gas industry was likely to continue to face pressure from renewables. Cheap wind and solar storage are "starting to eat away at their market share and the market dominance of the oil and gas sector."

"Every little bit of renewable installation is just chipping away at the dominance of oil and gas," Williams-Derry said. "In my opinion, we are at the thin end of the wedge where those things are just starting to eat into demand and I think that is going to accelerate. This may not happen over the course of one year or two years, but it is a long-term trend that the oil and gas industry has not had to face before."

The key difference when it comes to the energy industry's latest downturn was that the rising prominence of renewables now provided a genuine alternative to oil and gas, Willams-Derry said.

He added that this may mean an expected bounce back in world economic growth does not occur in lockstep with rising oil and gas demand.

Exclusive: Private equity firm bids for Come-by-Chance refinery, with plans to convert to renewable fuels

By Laura Sanicola

(Reuters) - Private equity firm Cresta Fund Management has offered to buy a majority stake in North Atlantic Refining, owner of the idled Canadian Come-by-Chance refinery, according to a letter reviewed by Reuters.

The Dallas-based firm said in a letter dated Jan. 22 it would look to convert the refinery to renewable fuel production. The Newfoundland refinery has been shut since March, one of numerous refineries across the United States and Canada that have halted operations due to coronavirus-induced demand destruction.

Several refiners since then have announced plans to convert their operations to renewable fuels production to remain viable as both nations try to reduce emissions.

Canada's Clean Fuel Standard (CFS) will require carbon-intensity reduction targets set for each fuel starting in 2022 and is projected to increase renewable fuel demand.

Cresta Fund Management declined to comment. North Atlantic Refining could not be reached for comment.

The refinery, operated by North Atlantic Refinery Ltd (NARL) and New York-based investment firm Silverpeak, is actively searching for a new owner.

"We have a track record of successfully acquiring similar businesses and have the market knowledge and resources necessary to smooth the diligence process and ensure a successful transition," the letter said.

In January, the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador agreed to give NARL a total of C$16.6 million ($13 million) to keep the 135,000 barrel-per-day plant idled while the owner seeks a new capital partner.

Come-by-Chance has been looking for a new owner since Irving Oil backed away from a purchase and share agreement in October.

The trading unit of Russia's Lukoil plans to remove crude oil it has stored at Come-by-Chance, Reuters reported last week. Lukoil's Litasco unit is its primary crude supplier.

(Reporting by Laura Sanicola; Editing by Chris Reese)