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Over the weekend, the United Nations atomic watchdog is expected to announce Iran’s compliance with the nuclear disarmament deal it struck with global powers last year, which will clear the way to lifting sanctions on the country. Iran claims it can raise production by 500,000 barrels per day quickly once sanctions are lifted.

The prospect of fresh supplies has sent share prices of oil and gas companies tumbling, with the S&P/TSX Capped Energy Index down 4.50 per cent Friday.

“You don’t have return expectations anymore right now at current levels and, definitely with regards to the Canadian guys, it is very hard to find anybody who is making money right now,” said Samir Kayande, a director at Calgary-based RS Energy Group.

Investment dealer Peters & Co. expects a US$21 billion funding shortfall for Canadian producers in 2016, and oil output to slide five per cent, if the current price environment persists.

Even before this year’s plunge, investors were bracing for a “white knuckle ride” when the Canadian oilpatch kicks off fourth-quarter earnings season later this month, says CIBC Capital Markets.

CIBC expects the industry’s cash flow per share – a key metric in times of liquidity concerns — to decline by 15 per cent overall, and fall 27 per cent for integrated companies, in the fourth quarter compared to the previous quarter.

Some Canadian producers are shielded from the evaporating value of the loonie as oil prices are denominated in U.S. dollars, but the currency impact is muted.