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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery added 93 cents to $45.68 on the New York Merc, while Brent for September added $1.11 to $47.37 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $13.80 to WTI ($31.88), up from a discount of $13.95. Natural gas for August lost one cent to $2.727. The TSX energy index added a fraction to close at 193.88.

Baytex Energy Corp. (BTE) added two cents to $7.26 on 7.74 million shares, after making a surprise management change. It has appointed Ed LaFehr as president, replacing Jim Bowzer, who will remain chief executive officer. The appointment comes just six weeks after Mr. LaFehr resigned as chief operating officer of Abu Dhabi National Energy Co. (TAQA). He had joined TAQA in 2012 to manage its North American assets, after being wooed over from Canada's Talisman Energy, where he had spent about a year. Before that he worked for BP/Amoco for three decades. In 2014, he was promoted to what Baytex describes as TAQA's "most senior executive position." Normally this does not mean COO, but in this case, TAQA's CEO resigned at the same time as Mr. LaFehr became COO, so Mr. LaFehr was given the responsibilities of a CEO. It was an unusual leadership structure. In any event, becoming president of Baytex seems a reasonable move for Mr. LaFehr, particularly as he brings experience interacting with Marathon Oil, a joint venturer of both TAQA (in the North Sea) and Baytex (in the Texas Eagle Ford). Baytex does not need help on the Marathon front, seeing as Mr. Bowzer previously worked for Marathon for 30 years, but Mr. LaFehr certainly cannot hurt.

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