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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery lost 42 cents to $43.46 on the New York Merc, while Brent for May lost 43 cents to $53.51 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $13.70 to WTI ($29.76), up from a discount of $14.35. Natural gas for April added 13.9 cents to $2.85. The TSX energy index added 1.89 points to close at 210.22.

Northern Blizzard Resources Inc. (NBZ) added 19 cents to $7.39 on 213,800 shares, on top of the five cents it added yesterday after releasing its year-end financials and lowering its 2015 outlook. Investors were pleased, but the stock still has a long way to climb back to its August IPO price of $19. Crumbling oil prices have battered the Alberta- and Saskatchewan-focused stock. Its coping method of choice is the budget cut. Yesterday, it lowered its 2015 budget to $86-million, down from $130-million before that, $215-million before that and $260-million before that. Management said during a conference call that it could further adjust spending by up to $20-million in the second half of the year. Still, certain money is going to be spent "almost regardless of oil price." For example, Northern Blizzard wants to spend about $20-million this year on its Bakken polymer flood at Cactus Lake. Phases 1 and 2 of this project are producing better than the company hoped, and although the news release says the phase 3 expansion will begin some time this year, management said during the call that it in fact started injecting polymer this week. Other work at Cactus Lake this year will be on a planned SAGD (steam-assisted gravity drainage) project in the northern area, scheduled to start production next year. Meanwhile, Northern Blizzard's first SAGD project, Plover Lake, suffered a mechanical failure in November, but should get up to its design capacity of 2,400 barrels a day in the first half of this year. The SAGD projects are getting $20-million of this year's budget. Between its hedges and its $462-million available bank credit, Northern Blizzard feels comfortable with its new budget, as well as its dividend. The eight-cent monthly payout yields 13 per cent, but Northern Blizzard does not want to cut it. It does not take up much of the company's cash anyway because the two largest shareholders, Riverstone Holdings and NGP Energy, take part in the stock dividend program. Riverstone holds 28.5 million and NGP holds 41.9 million of Northern Blizzard's 104 million shares.

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