Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. says it will boost its crude shipments on the expanded Trans Mountain Pipeline starting in December after recording a $2.27-billion profit in the third quarter, which is the first full quarter since the pipeline began commercial operations.

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Scott Stauth, president of Canada’s largest producer, said the company will increase its contracted crude oil transportation capacity on TMX by 75,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) to 169,000 bbl/d beginning in December, confirming previous reports that the company had snapped up space on the pipeline vacated by PetroChina Co. Ltd.

“When you take a look at the opportunities off the West Coast to further expand and diversify to additional refining destinations, that provides a significant forward-looking opportunity for us,” he said on a conference call Thursday. “It helps the (Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin) maintain very competitive heavy oil netbacks, stabilizes the market more so than it ever was before.”

CNRL has been on the hunt for additional capacity this year after hiking contracted crude shipments by 55,000 bbl/d to the U.S. Gulf Coast on the Flanagan South pipeline in the first quarter.

Despite the moves to diversify its market access, the Calgary-based company still felt the sting of weakening global oil prices and low demand for Canadian natural gas.

CNRL’s third-quarter profit was down from the $2.34 billion it earned a year ago, with benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) averaging US$75.16 per barrel, down about US$7 on a year-over-year basis.

Natural gas prices at the AECO hub in Alberta were “significantly” lower than last year, the company said, averaging just 77 cents per gigajoue during the quarter due to weaker demand and high storage inventories.

CNRL previously said it would delay new gas production due to low prices and on Thursday said it will reduce its drilling activity further, aiming to drill a total of 74 dry natural gas wells, which is 17 fewer than it had originally budgeted for the year.

Producers are hopeful gas prices will improve with the return of winter weather as demand rises for home heating. Canadian gas prices were in the basement for most of the year due to high inventory levels following last year’s warmer-than-expected winter.

While delays and production shut-ins are typically how producers have dealt with the pain of weak prices, CNRL said the company has also created a “natural hedge” in its operations to ride out price volatility by using its own natural gas production to power the company’s oilsands facilities.

CNRL reported average daily production of about 1.36 million barrels of oil equivalent per day during the quarter, including record volumes from its oilsands assets in August.

The oilsands major still beat analyst expectations, with adjusted net earnings from operations of 97 cents per share for the quarter, as well as lower-than-expected operational and capital expenditures.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Greg Pardy called CNRL’s quarterly earnings “flawless” in a note on Thursday.

CNRL also said shareholder returns were $1.9 billion in the third quarter through its dividend and share buybacks.

• Email: mpotkins@postmedia.com

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