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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery lost 57 cents to $59.70 on the New York Merc, while Brent for August lost 29 cents to $63.20 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $11.55 to WTI ($48.15), unchanged. Natural gas for July added 8.6 cents to $2.847. The TSX energy index lost 3.69 points to close at 210.96.

Paul Colborne's Surge Energy Inc. (SGY) lost 13 cents to $3.93 on 2.36 million shares, after releasing its guidance for the second half of the year. It plans to spend $42.6-million. This is nearly double the $22-million budget it laid out for the first half of 2015 (although it will end up spending more than that, seeing as it spent nearly $26-million in the first quarter alone). Surge recently sold $430-million of assets to TORC Oil & Gas Ltd. (TOG: $9.37), so it has an "excellent" balance sheet to support the budget as well as its 2.5-cent monthly dividend, which yields 7.6 per cent. Investors still seem unimpressed, particularly those who were hoping for an ambitious production increase. Surge expects to average 14,250 barrels a day over the second half of 2015, the same as it is producing now. It will drill 11 net wells. This compares with over 24 net wells drilled in the second half of 2014. This year, though, Surge has some non-drilling plans that will take up nearly half of the second-half budget, such as waterfloods and a $5-million pipeline in Alberta to alleviate infrastructure constraints. That leaves $24-million for drilling and completions. Seven of the 11 wells will target the promising Upper Shaunavon play in Saskatchewan, where Surge's estimate of resources has risen by 10 times -- to 250 million barrels from about 25 million -- over the last two years.

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