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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery lost $1.29 to $43.52 on the New York Merc, while Brent for October lost $1.28 to $45.76 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $14.15 to WTI ($29.37), up from a discount of $14.30. Natural gas for October lost seven cents to $2.81. The TSX energy index lost a fraction to close at 195.59.

Don Gray's thinly traded Petrus Resources Ltd. (PRQ) lost 10 cents to $2.00 on 12,500 shares. (The stock is tightly held by long-time backer Natural Gas Partners, a U.S. private equity firm that owns 12 million of its 45 million shares. Mr. Gray, the chairman of Petrus and the co-founder and chairman of Peyto Exploration & Development Corp. (PEY: $37.85), owns another 2.8 million.) Petrus is getting ready to begin its second-half drill program in the Ferrier area of the Alberta Cardium. The program will start right after the Labour Day long weekend, according to the new edition of the company's monthly newsletter. The Ferrier Cardium has been a priority since Petrus entered it in mid-2014. Since then, the company has drilled 13 gross (9.8 wells), and boasted in the newsletter that it has managed to reduce the well costs to $2.5-million from $4.5-million. Part of that reflects depressed service costs, but part reflects design improvements. Petrus is planning to tweak the design even further during the second half of the year, as it drills nine gross (4.8 net) new wells, and hopes that its efforts "will continue to dramatically improve the rates of return." The new wells are expected to take up $13.4-million of the $17.5-million second-half budget.

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