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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery added $1.21 to $51.69 on the New York Merc, while Brent for March added $1.23 to $57.80 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $13.25 to WTI ($38.44), down from a discount of $13.20. Natural gas for March lost 2.1 cents to $2.57. The TSX energy index added 1.65 points to close at 231.83.

Canacol Energy Ltd. (CNE) lost 19 cents to $3.77 on 4.22 million shares, as investors digested another gassy update from Colombia. Although Canacol's production is mainly oily at the moment, the company has spent the last year, and in particular the last five months, forcefully shifting its focus to gas. (This is nowhere more clear than in its corporate presentation. Previous presentations have all been titled "Growth from a Diversified Portfolio," or words to that effect, but the new one proclaims, "Stepping on the Gas.") Now Canacol is expanding into yet another area: liquefied natural gas (LNG). This is related to its most recent gas contract. To support its ambitious gas plans -- namely, to quadruple current gas production by year-end and to nonuple (nine times) it in 2016 -- Canacol has been signing sales contracts to make sure it will have buyers. Late yesterday, it announced its most interesting contract yet. Altenesol LNG Colombia, a self-described up-and-coming "major Alternative Energy Architect," has signed a 15-year contract to buy 35 million cubic feet a day, starting in the fourth quarter of 2016. This represents all the feedstock it needs for its 360,000-gallon-a-day Nataly 1 LNG plant. It will pay $4.90 (U.S.) per million BTU. That is less than Canacol's other contracts, which are at $5.40 (U.S.) to $8 (U.S.) per million BTU, but Canacol is also receiving an option to participate in the LNG project. For $13-million (U.S.), it will acquire a 26-per-cent interest in Altenesol, sharing in the revenue -- but also the risk -- of Nataly 1. Both companies trumpeted the benefits of the deal in their respective press releases, but investors seem wary. The ambitions still have a long path to reality.

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