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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery added $1.39 to $49.37 on the New York Merc, while Brent for August added $1.48 to $50.65 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $13.15 to WTI ($36.22), unchanged. Natural gas for July added 12.4 cents to $2.747. The TSX energy index added 3.73 points to close at 187.33.

Athabasca Oil Corp. (ATH) added 13 cents to $1.41 on 14.6 million shares, after taking a large first step toward its refinancing goals by selling a royalty for $129-million and also repaying about $250-million worth of debt. The relatively non-punishing royalty covers Athabasca's thermal assets and ranges from nothing to 6 per cent, depending on oil prices. For example, at the Hangingstone thermal project, WTI must reach $75 (U.S.) before the first 1-per-cent royalty is triggered. Separately, Athabasca has repaid a $221-million (U.S.) senior loan and unwound a foreign exchange hedge, reducing its debt by about $250-million in total. It has also restructured its credit facilities by lowering its revolving facility to $45-million (from $125-million, though that was not mentioned) and establishing a $110-million letter-of-credit facility. As of March 31, the revolving facility was undrawn but did have about $100.5-million in letters of credit secured against it, according to SEDAR. Reducing the revolving facility and setting up a separate letter-of-credit facility should reduce expenses. All of this fits in nicely with Athabasca's debt-reduction goals. As of March 31, Athabasca had long-term debt of about $820-million, largely consisting of $550-million in second-lien notes as well as the above-mentioned $221-million (U.S.) senior loan. The notes and the loan were due in 2017, unless the notes were redeemed or refinanced, in which case the loan's due date would be pushed to 2019. Athabasca had told analysts that it would like to repay the loan and partially refinance the notes. Now it has accomplished the first goal, and made progress on its publicly stated goal of reducing debt by $300-million to $400-million this year.

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