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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery lost $1.16 to $93.29 on the New York Merc, while Brent for October lost $1.01 to $100.82 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $14.05 to WTI ($79.24), down from a discount of $13.78. Natural gas for October lost 2.6 cents to $3.79. The TSX energy index added a fraction to close at 315.40.

Mickey Dunn's Bellatrix Exploration Ltd. (BXE) added five cents to $7.79 on 1.47 million shares. It has had an interesting couple of weeks, rising to $8.52 from $7.50 on Aug. 18 to 19, then making its way back down. This seems to be because of and despite a new major shareholder, Orange Capital. Orange is a busy New York hedge fund and activist investor run by Daniel Lewis. Over the last five months, it has successfully pushed for a new board at Newalta, added Mr. Lewis to the board of trustees of InnVest REIT and gained the right to a board seat at Tuckamore Capital. Rumours that it would take an interest in Bellatrix began a couple of weeks ago. On Aug. 19, the fund disclosed in an EDGAR filing that it owned 10.16 million of Bellatrix's 191 million shares, having spent $90-million for an average cost per share of $8.85. Its filing also said it would pressure Bellatrix to change its board. To average down, and perhaps with the realization that a 5-per-cent interest alone can make it hard to pressure management, Orange has been buying. It had a new EDGAR filing yesterday. From Aug. 25 to Sept. 3, it bought 2.07 million more shares at an average cost of $8.24, bringing its position to 6.4 per cent. Bellatrix is barely reacting. Investors may be disappointed that the company has not announced any acquisition using the proceeds from a $172-million bought deal of shares at $9.50 in late May and June. At the time, management played coy about the money's purpose, but after shareholder pressure, it held conference calls in June and August and explained that it hoped to use the money to make an acquisition over the typically slow summer period. Nothing has been announced so far.

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