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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery lost $1.75 to $31.41 on the New York Merc, while Brent for February lost $2.00 to $31.55 (all figures in this para U.S.). The benchmarks continued to be buffeted by Chinese stocks, which took another painful tumble today, amplifying fears of a global slowdown. The Shanghai Composite Index has shed nearly 15 per cent so far this year and is approaching the lows reached during last summer's crash. In other pessimistic news, Morgan Stanley is forecasting that Brent could drop to $20 a barrel on the appreciation of the U.S. dollar. (A rising U.S. dollar makes commodities more expensive in domestic currencies and thus blunts demand for them.) Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $14.45 to WTI ($16.96), down from a discount of $14.25. Natural gas for February lost 7.6 cents to $2.396. The TSX energy index lost 5.92 points to close at 143.88.

All of the above made for a bad day for TSX energy stocks, with over two dozen of them losing 5 to 15 per cent of their value. Some particularly bad days were had by companies that are expected to release potentially bad news this week. For example, Surge Energy Inc. (SGY) lost 17 cents to $1.77, TORC Oil & Gas Ltd. (TOG) lost 38 cents to $4.27 and Crescent Point Energy Corp. (CPG) lost 63 cents to $13.18, a bad start to a week in which all three companies are expected to declare monthly dividends. They are yielding 8.4 per cent, 12.6 per cent and 9.1 per cent, respectively, suggesting that investors expect cuts. Other important news this week is expected from Pacific Exploration & Production Corp. (PRE), down 15 cents to $1.32. It announced on Dec. 28 that it had obtained a couple of important debt covenant waivers from its lenders, but the waivers are subject to (among other things) the negotiation of an agreement on minimum cash holdings by this Thursday, Jan. 14. TD Securities analyst Shahin Amini, for one, thinks the outcome of the negotiation is "highly uncertain," and suspended price-target coverage on Pacific last Wednesday. In other price-target news, more than three dozen Canadian companies had their targets slashed today by the analysts at Raymond James and National Bank Financial. Both sets of analysts were particularly hard on MEG Energy Corp. (MEG: $6.27). The ones at Raymond James cut their target on MEG to $11 from $18, and the ones at National Bank cut theirs to $6 from $12. Only one stock stood strong amid the carnage. Painted Pony Petroleum Ltd. (PPY: $2.98) actually had its target lifted by the National Bank analysts, to $6.50 from $4.75.

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