Canadian Natural president awaiting more detail on Ottawa’s climate plans

CALGARY – The president of oil and gas giant Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. says this week’s federal budget had some positive signs for the industry, but he’s waiting for more detail about how the government’s climate policy is going to shake out. 

“We like the discussions that are going on,” Scott Stauth told analysts on a conference call Thursday to discuss Canadian Natural’s third-quarter results. 

“But as always, there’s lots of detail to work through in terms of carbon competitiveness. That’s going to be key to understand.”

The climate plan set out in Tuesday’s budget seems to hinge on strengthening Canada’s industrial carbon price, which oil and gas industry players have said makes them uncompetitive and should be scrapped. But the strategy also signals Ottawa may ditch a proposed cap on emissions, which industry has derided as a de facto production cap. 

“The details at this point are not well understood and we’ll certainly be very anxious to work with the (federal) government and the government of Alberta to make sure that we’ve got a collaborative way to move forward,” Stauth said. 

Earlier Thursday, Canadian Natural reported a third-quarter profit of $600 million as it saw record production. 

That amounted to 29 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30, down from a profit of $2.27 billion, or $1.06 per diluted share a year earlier. 

Production in the quarter was more than 1.62 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, up from more than 1.36 million the same quarter last year.

The results for its most recent quarter included a non-cash charge of about $700 million related to an increase in its estimate for future abandonment costs for its Ninian field and T-Block assets in the North Sea. 

On an adjusted basis, Canadian Natural says it earned 86 cents per diluted share from operations in its latest quarter, beating the average analyst estimate by a penny according to LSEG Data & Analytics. Adjusted profit was 97 cents per diluted share a year ago.

Revenue for the quarter totalled $9.52 billion, up from $8.89 billion.

Canadian Natural has major positions in the oilsands and western Canadian natural gas fields, along with offshore platforms in the North Sea and Africa. 

“Our unique and diverse asset base provides us with a competitive advantage,” Stauth told the call. “We allocate capital to the highest return projects without being reliant on any one commodity.”

Earlier this week, Canadian Natural boosted its production forecast for the year after it gained full ownership of the Albian oilsands mine through an asset-swap deal with Shell Canada Ltd. 

The deal announced in January saw Canadian Natural trade 10 per cent of its working interest in the Scotford Upgrader and Quest Carbon Capture project for Shell’s remaining 10 per cent interest in the Albian mine north of Fort McMurray, Alta. 

Canadian Natural said the deal, which has now closed, adds about 31,000 barrels per day of bitumen to its portfolio.

That brings its 2025 production guidance to between 1.56 million and 1.58 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, representing production growth of about 15 per cent over 2024 levels. 

Canadian Natural said its operating budget for the year remains unchanged at about $5.9 billion. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2025.

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