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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery lost 63 cents to $44.00 on the New York Merc, while Brent for October lost $1.77 to $46.37 (all figures in this para U.S.). Both benchmarks fell on weak Chinese economic data, but WTI was cushioned by bullish reports from data provider Genscape (regarding a large drawdown of crude stockpiles last week in Oklahoma) and the U.S. Energy Information Administration (forecasting a further drop in U.S. shale oil output in October, on top of September's decline). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $13.40 to WTI ($30.60), up from a discount of $13.45. Natural gas for October added 6.5 cents to $2.758. The TSX energy index lost 2.37 points to close at 163.16.

Abby Badwi's Bankers Petroleum Ltd. (BNK) lost one cent to $1.88 on 2.73 million shares, after taking a "significant step forward" and reaching an "important milestone" in its tax dispute with Albania. This is an eye-wateringly bright way of saying that the parties have agreed to hire a third party auditor. The dispute began last year after Bankers, which is the largest producer and foreign investor in Albania -- it has been there for 11 years and produces nearly 20,000 barrels of oil a day -- received an audit report from AKBN (the Albanian National Agency for Natural Resources) with findings that could lead to a $303-million (U.S.) reduction to the company's cost recovery pool. Essentially, the government did not agree with the way that Bankers was recording hundreds of millions of dollars in expenditures. The cost recovery pool represents deductions for income taxes in Albania, so a reduction could put Bankers in a taxable position. Bankers disagreed with the report and began defending its methods. The government pressed ahead and demanded taxes of $57-million (U.S.). This morning, Bankers announced that it and AKBN will select an international auditor within a few weeks, with the goal of resolving the dispute "over the next several months." Ideally, this will prevent them from having to go to an international arbitration court.

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