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Poor oil prices and mixed refinery margins will translate into overall “abysmal” third-quarter financial results for besieged Calgary-based oil and gas companies as reporting season starts next week, an analyst reports.

Benchmark U.S. crude ended the third quarter at under US $45 per barrel on Sept. 30 after three months in which the average price for New York-traded West Texas Intermediate fell 19 per cent to US$46.71 from US$57.73 in the previous quarter.

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“Although the fourth quarter has started off with a bang with WTI jumping from $44.75 to $49.50 per barrel in just seven trading sessions, equities have a lot of ground to make up with third-quarter returns being abysmal,” said AltaCorp Capital analyst Nick Lupick in a report to investors published Tuesday morning.

“With WTI and Brent both falling 19 per cent quarter-over-quarter (testing lows in August not seen since the 2009 correction) and Edmonton Par prices falling 21 per cent, energy investors saw returns plunge deep into the red this summer.”