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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery added 67 cents to $47.83 on the New York Merc, while Brent for November added 32 cents to $49.06 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $13.95 to WTI ($33.88), up from a discount of $14.15. Natural gas for November was unchanged at $2.95. The TSX energy index added 4.38 points to close at 199.89.

Enerplus Corp. (ERF) touched an intraday high of $8.71 before retreating and settling at $8.26, up four cents, on 4.03 million shares. This is on top of the 72 cents it added yesterday. That gain likely reflected yesterday's jump in oil prices, but Enerplus also got a pleasant mention in a research note by TD Securities analyst Aaron Bilkoski, who was intrigued by Rice Energy's announcement this week of a major expansion in the Marcellus gas play of Pennsylvania's Appalachia basin, which is one of Enerplus's three core areas. Rice agreed on Monday afternoon to buy the Marcellus-focused Vantage Energy for $2.7-billion (U.S.). Vantage is in the southwest part of the basin and holds assets that include about 268 million cubic feet equivalent a day worth of Appalachian production and 85,000 net Marcellus acres. According to Rice's chief executive officer, Daniel Rice, "This deal represents the largest core dry gas Marcellus acquisition to date, one that is truly transformational" for his company. He added in a conference call on Tuesday that the acquisition provides a "fantastic asset base" and "nearly doubles our [inventory] of Marcellus drilling locations." Rice now plans to begin developing the assets immediately at a rate of 45 net wells a year. TD's Mr. Bilkoski sees the deal as good news for Enerplus. Although Enerplus is in a different part of the basin, at the northeast edge rather than in the southwest, both parts of the basin are dry gas and so the deal "highlights Marcellus upside," says Mr. Bilkoski. Based on his calculations, the deal implies that Enerplus's Marcellus assets are worth about $1-billion (U.S.) or $4.11 (U.S.) a share, equal to more than half of Enerplus's enterprise value of about $1.9-billion (U.S.). Mr. Bilkoski acknowledges that many assumptions went into calculating this figure, but he nonetheless views it as "directionally indicative." He kept his price target on Enerplus at $12.50.

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