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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery lost $1.39 to $52.14 on the New York Merc, while Brent for April lost $2.00 to $60.53 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $13.75 to WTI ($38.39), down from a discount of $13.20. Natural gas for March added 7.2 cents to $2.83. The TSX energy index lost 5.58 points to close at 229.94.

"In Canada the [oil] industry is in a near-death condition," came the sneering indictment today from a spokesman for Russia's Rosneft, which is evidently displeased that Ottawa has included the state-owned oil firm on its expanded list of individuals and entities that will be subject to economic sanctions. As reported by the Financial Post, the spokesman told the Russian News Service that Canada is "preoccupied with its Ukrainian diaspora, a large part of which are pro-Banderites; that's well known." (Pro-Banderites is how the Russian state media refer to supporters of the government in Kiev.) The spokesman continued to mock the Canadian government and oil industry. Rosneft entered Canada in 2012 after striking a deal for a 30-per-cent interest in ExxonMobil's Harmattan acreage in the Alberta Cardium, operated by Exxon's Canadian affiliate, Imperial Oil Ltd. (IMO: $49.96). Russia has relationships with other Canada-listed companies as well. Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of state gas giant Gazprom (which provides much of Europe's energy), has a joint venture in Iraqi Kurdistan with WesternZagros Resources Ltd. (WZR: $0.41). They each own 40 per cent of the Garmian block and the Kurdish regional government holds the rest. Gazprom Neft is not on the list of entities sanctioned by Canada, but it has been targeted by the European Union and the United States. This led Shell to suspend a Siberian joint venture with Gazprom Neft in October. Gazprom Neft and WesternZagros are still working together on Garmian; they submitted a development plan last summer and originally expected approval "prior to the end of 2014." This was later updated to "early 2015" on WesternZagros's website. Requests to WesternZagros for comment on Garmian, as well as Ottawa's expanding list of sanctions, were not returned by deadline.

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