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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery added 17 cents to $43.04 on the New York Merc, while Brent for January added five cents to $46.17 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $14.65 to WTI ($28.39), up from a discount of $14.90. Natural gas for December added 0.6 cent to $2.206. The TSX energy index lost 1.62 points to close at 178.28.

Ryan Kubik's Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. (COS) added eight cents to $8.90 on 9.4 million shares. Its hostile suitor, Suncor Energy Inc. (SU: $36.60), may be facing stiff competition to its bid, according to The Globe and Mail, which cited an affidavit filed today with the Alberta Securities Commission (ASC). The affidavit was filed by Jamie Anderson, deputy chairman of RBC Capital Markets, which is representing Canadian Oil Sands as it tries to fend off Suncor's all-share offer. The offer arrived on Oct. 5 and valued the company's stock (based on the closing prices of both companies that day) at $8.65. That is about one-third of the price that Canadian Oil Sands traded at in the summer of 2014, and the company is not happy about it. It has repeatedly called the offer unfair, opportunistic and exploitive, and also swallowed a poison pill to protect itself. Suncor will challenge the poison pill at an ASC hearing tomorrow. The affidavit will add a twist to the proceedings. Although Suncor's CEO, Steve Williams, has expressed skepticism that any other bidder will emerge for Canadian Oil Sands, the affidavit suggests that this could change. It says 25 parties have expressed interest in Canadian Oil Sands and four "highly credible" ones have signed confidentiality agreements. Of course, no actual bid has arrived, which may be why investors had a fairly muted reaction today. Not so for BNN, which leaped eagerly into speculation about who the potential bidders could be. Its Jameson Berkow looked at the following text from the affidavit: "Among the parties participating in the process are entities that [Suncor's adviser considers] likely to have no interest in COS. Others include strategic and financial parties." That suggested to Mr. Berkow that a pension fund such as the Canada Pension Plan could be interested. He also brought up Imperial Oil Ltd. (IMO: $42.84).

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