Business
Newport Well Positioned to Maintain Quarterly Dividend
Newport Well Positioned to Maintain Quarterly Dividend Canada NewsWire VANCOUVER...
About this update from Newport Exploration Ltd
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\nNewport Well Positioned to Maintain Quarterly Dividend\n\n/* Style Definitions */\nspan.prnews_span\n{\nfont-size:8pt;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\n}\na.prnews_a\n{\ncolor:blue;\n}\nli.prnews_li\n{\nfont-size:8pt;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\n}\np.prnews_p\n{\nfont-size:0.62em;\nfont-family:\"Arial\";\ncolor:black;\nmargin:0in;\n}\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCanada NewsWire\nVANCOUVER, March 30, 2020\n\n\n\nTrading Symbol: NWX (TSX-V)\n VANCOUVER, March 30, 2020 /CNW/ - Newport Exploration Ltd (\"Newport\" or the \"Company\") is pleased to provide shareholders and investors with an update on its quarterly dividend payment schedule as a result of recent global activity in the oil markets. As the Company's Gross Overriding Royalty (\"GOR\") business model relies upon the operations of Beach Energy Ltd (\"Beach\") in Australia, the Company is also providing a summary of a news release made by Beach dated March 27th, 2020.\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \nThe economic shut down from COVID-19 has resulted in a reduction in demand for crude oil and petroleum products worldwide.  Also, failure of the OPEC + countries to agree on a reduction of supply by 1.5mmbpd and the subsequent price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia has plunged the global financial markets into turmoil. Crude oil, as a global commodity, has been extremely negatively affected during the past several weeks resulting in a great deal of uncertainty in the sector.\nWhat is already certain is that significant capex cuts are being made by most producers, with energy companies cutting and deferring costs wherever they can. At the same time oil production from North American companies is declining, bank capital substantially reduced; in some cases banks are refusing energy companies access to credit facilities that were already in place, with other companies in breach of their debt covenants. As a consequence, dividends in energy companies are being slashed or suspended.  This latter point is obviously of concern to shareholders and potential investors in Newport.  \nAs stated in a Company News release dated, February 10th, 2020, \"The Company's strong balance sheet ensures that Newport has the ability to maintain regular quarterly dividend payments with a reduced likelihood that the quarterly dividend payments would be cut in any sector downtu...