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CALGARY – Results will be “ugly” when large oil and gas companies begin reporting their fourth quarter and year-end earnings this week.

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Alberta lost 19,600 jobs last year — the most since 1982 and many industry veterans are deciding they can no longer take the boom and bust roller-coaster.

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Analysts widely expect major Calgary-based energy producers to cut deeper into their budgets, cut dividends and cut more staff as the oil price rout, which wreaked havoc throughout 2015, worsened over the course of the fourth quarter and into January. The fall in oil prices will also mean that large companies face non-cash charges on their earnings as their reserves fall in value.

Earnings season will begin in earnest Tuesday, when Imperial Oil Ltd. announces its results, followed by Suncor Energy Inc. after markets close on Wednesday and MEG Energy Corp. on Thursday.

In a note to clients titled “From Bad to Worse,” National Bank Financial analysts said a 10 per cent deterioration in West Texas Intermediate oil prices between the third and fourth quarters of 2015 will drag down energy companies’ financial results, and many firms are expected to announce “substantial write-downs” on their year-end oil reserves.