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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery added $1.24 to $92.80 on the New York Merc, while Brent for November added 10 cents to $96.95 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $14.40 to WTI ($78.40), up from a discount of $15.15. Natural gas for October added 9.5 cents to $3.91. The TSX energy index added a fraction to close at 295.39.

Canacol Energy Ltd. (CNE) lost six cents to $5.84 on 3.8 million shares, after releasing its financials for the fiscal year ended June 30. Net income was $9.9-million (U.S.), up from a loss of $127.8-million (U.S.) in fiscal 2013. That improvement was mainly because last year's figures included a $106-million (U.S.) impairment loss on a Colombian asset, so investors were not impressed. They also did not like the results of the Pointer-1 light oil exploration well on the LLA-23 block (also in Colombia), which did not produce significant oil. Canacol played this down and instead emphasized its new reserve report and rising production. Looking at those, however, shareholders still had reasons to be uneasy. For example, in the 2P (proven plus probable) reserve report, acquisitions were said to add 740,000 barrels of light and medium oil. Yet when Canacol acquired a 10-per-cent interest in the LLA-23 block effective June 1, boosting its ownership to 90 per cent, it said this acquisition had 2P reserves of 1.3 million barrels of light and medium oil. This is nearly double what it actually recorded in its reserve report. Canacol's management has been similarly optimistic when it comes to production. (This is forecast using the calendar, not fiscal, year.) Last December, president and chief executive officer Charle Gamba told Bloomberg that the target for 2014 was 15,000 barrels a day, and furthermore that this was "a low-side type of guidance." Canacol did not actually set its official guidance at that level -- it is forecasting 13,000 to 14,000 barrels a day -- but seeing as current production is just 14,000 barrels a day, the company will surely miss Mr. Gamba's original target. Even so, he is bolder than ever, at least to the Colombian papers. He told Dinero last week that Canacol's target for 2015 is 22,000 to 24,000 barrels a day, and for 2016 is 30,000 barrels a day. (Dinero is also the outlet to which he revealed current production of 14,000 barrels a day. That figure did not appear in Canacol's new press release.)

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