Chevron profit drops but beats expectations on refining margins

Chevron profit drops but beats expectations on refining margins

Oil and natural gas producer Chevron Corp reported a 43 percent drop in quarterly profit on Friday, though results beat analysts’ expectations as cost cuts and robust refining margins helped offset the impact of tumbling crude prices. The help from refining operations mirrored results at large, integrated peers such as Exxon Mobil Corp and Royal Dutch Shell , which tend to lean on their refining divisions for profit during times

Western Canadian office vacancy rates to hit 20-year high: report

By Allison Lampert MONTREAL (Reuters) – Sliding commodity prices and record levels of office construction could drive Western Canadian downtown vacancy rates to a two-decade high, one of the world’s biggest commercial real estate services firms has forecast. Despite growth in the high-tech sector, weaker demand from resource and energy companies is boosting vacancy rates in Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton to levels unseen since Canada’s economic slowdown of the early