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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery lost $2.97 to $74.21 on the New York Merc, its first time below $75 since September, 2010, as U.S. data showed a higher-than-expected increase in crude stockpiles and concern mounted that OPEC will not take any action to bolster prices (all prices in this para U.S.). Brent for December closed below $80 for the first time since December, 2010, losing $2.46 to $77.92. Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $15.50 to WTI ($58.71), unchanged. Natural gas for December lost 20.8 cents to $3.97. The TSX energy index lost 7.65 points to close at 256.01.

Pat Ward's Painted Pony Petroleum Ltd. (PPY) lost $1.20 to $11.30 on 1.85 million shares. The stock declined despite financial results the copmany released after the close yesterday that looked to be positive. The company had a profit of $8.2-million compared with a loss of $200,000 in the same period last year. It also announced an acquisition in its core northeast B.C. Montney area. The land, acquired for $66.8-million in a Crown land sale, is right beside Painted Pony's liquids-rich Townsend asset and is near the AltaGas processing plant that will be built as part of the two companies' recently announced joint venture. Painted Pony also arranged a $50-million bought deal of 4.17 million shares at $12 a share, which it increased to before increasing it $55-million this morning. Painted Pony has 94 million shares outstanding. It was not short on Montney assets, so investors may be displeased that it is conducting a dilutive financing for land it does not really need. More likely, the stock is reacting to discouraging commodity news. Oil and gas prices both dropped sharply today, as noted above. As well, the B.C. LNG (liquefied natural gas) industry, which Painted Pony and others are counting on to boost demand for Montney gas, got unnerving news after the International Energy Agency said that the costs to export Canadian LNG will be among the highest in the world, much more than originally thought. Depending on where the LNG goes, the IAE estimated that export costs would be $13 to $14 per million British thermal units, compared with the industry estimate of around $11. It is not clear whether the costs estimated by LNG project developers are in line with the IAE's estimates. The Financial Post, which covered the story, quoted sources who said that developers had already seen estimates similar to the IAE's. It sought comments from some of these developers but did not receive any.

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