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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery lost $1.09 to $94.45 on the New York Merc, while Brent for October lost 94 cents to $101.83 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $13.78 to WTI ($80.67), up from a discount of $14.62. Natural gas for October lost 2.8 cents to $3.81. The TSX energy index lost 4.01 points to close at 315.11.

Jeff Boyce's Tamarack Valley Energy Ltd. (TVE) lost 28 cents to $7.15 on 6.34 million shares, after announcing a second major expansion in the Alberta Cardium, a year after the first one. It is spending $168.5-million to acquire 62 (43.4 net) sections in the Wilson Creek area from Suncor Energy Inc. (SU: $44.08). To finance the acquisition, Tamarack has arranged a $115.1-million bought deal of 16.1 million subscription receipts at $7.15, as well as a $10-million private placement of 1.28 million tax-advantaged shares at $7.85. It expects the financings to close on Sept. 26 and the acquisition to close on Oct. 15. In August of last year, Tamarack made its first big move into the Cardium by entering a farm-in deal to earn a 70-per-cent interest in up to 113 net sections in the greater Pembina area, boosting its net prospective Cardium sections by around 900 per cent. Its first two farm-in wells were at Wilson Creek. Tamarack did not release results for those wells, but earlier this summer, it said it had drilled a total of 11 farm-in wells (not all at Wilson Creek), with four-month production rates that were 19 to 25 per cent higher than budgeted. Now it is making another big acquisition in the Cardium. Suncor's Wilson Creek assets comprise 1,702 barrels of oil equivalent a day and about $20-million worth of underused infrastructure, which Tamarack says will enable quick production increases. It believes it can double production to about 3,600 barrels a day over the next six to 12 months. (In its own press release, Suncor, which put the assets up for sale months ago, said they are indeed high-quality; they just do not fit with its core business, the oil sands.) Canaccord Genuity analyst Steve Toth praised the deal and raised his price target on Tamarack to $9 from $7.50. He also patted himself on the back for predicting last month that Tamarack would buy Suncor's assets, neglecting to mention that he had also named Bellatrix Exploration Ltd. (BXE: $7.74) and Whitecap Resources Inc. (WCP: $17.62) as potential buyers. Bellatrix owns land in the Ferrier area west of Wilson Creek, and Whitecap owns land directly south of what Tamarack is now acquiring. Other large players in the area in and around Wilson Creek, from greatest to least amount of land, include Penn West Petroleum Ltd. (PWT: $8.10), Bonavista Energy Corp. (BNP: $13.91) and Lightstream Resources Inc. (LTS: $5.85).

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