Amid the Russian-Saudi oil price war, Canadian companies are among the most affected of the oil producing nations

Canadian oil prices dropped to $5 per barrel in early April, a worst-case scenario for energy exporters.

The dispute has affected Russia and Saudi Arabia as well, but they are better positioned to weather low oil prices for the foreseeable future. However, both countries are signalling their readiness to negotiate production cuts with the OPEC+ nations, as well as the US and other major oil producers like Canada.

Dropping oil prices have caused Canadian oil producers to defer investment, reduce operations and lay off large sections of the workforce. As reported by Reuters, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd, the nation’s largest oil producer, is ready to implement production cuts as long as “it is a broad-based approach”, according to the company’s president Tim McKay.

A summit of all major oil producers will be held in the near future to discuss ways to cut global production by 10 million barrels per day in the face of falling demand. However, analysts say that these measures will not go far enough to prevent global storage from reaching capacity in May, which would lead to further price cuts.