OIL EXPLORERS TRIM DRILLING AMID SHALE PATCH WEAKNESS

Oil explorers settled into the deepest drilling hibernation in more than a year as the U.S. shale patch struggles to maintain its explosive growth. Working oil rigs fell by one this week to 833, according to data released Friday by oilfield-services provider Baker Hughes. The four-week decline is the longest since May 2016. The U.S. government cut its oil production forecast for the first time in six months as drillers scale back in smaller shale plays and the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. While crude output is still expected to reach record levels, the Energy Information Administration trimmed its 2019 forecast to 12.3 million barrels a day — 110,000 barrels-aday lower than its previous forecast. “This is just the beginning,” said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group Inc. in Chicago. plane. It has already delivered 376 jets, with an additional 4,636 orders awaiting delivery.

WestJet has ordered 37 more of the aircraft, which it started operating in 2017.

Air Canada has a firm order for 26 more 737 aircraft. Eighteen of these were scheduled for delivery in 2019.

Fleet expansion was a major part of Air Canada’s bluesky forecast at an investor day in Februar y, where executives predicted its big investments in new planes and more routes would pay off in 2019. In recent years, it invested $12 billion in the expansion.

But the current uncertainty prompted it to suspend all financial guidance for 2019, although its annual margin, revenue and return on invested capital estimates for the three years between 2019 and 2021 remain in place.

WestJet has not yet updated its financial guidance. It has relied on previous versions of the Boeing 737 since its inception in 1996.