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Energy Summary for Feb. 15, 2017

2017-02-15 20:20 ET - Market Summary

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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery lost nine cents to $53.11 on the New York Merc, while Brent for April lost 22 cents to $55.75 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $14.80 to WTI ($14.71), unchanged. Natural gas for March added two cents to $2.92. The TSX energy index added 1.48 points to close at 206.47.

Alberta gas producer Bellatrix Exploration Ltd. (BXE) added three cents to $1.07 on 970,000 shares, after promoting its executive vice-president and chief operating officer, Brent Eshleman, to president and chief executive officer. Mr. Eshleman had already been serving as interim president and CEO since November, when his predecessor, Ray Smith, took a step back for health reasons. Now Bellatrix is removing the interim tag.

Mr. Smith will retire from Bellatrix and vacate his seat on the board of directors. His departure comes almost six years after he first took charge of the company, back when it was called True Energy Trust. True was founded in 2000 by Paul Baay, who, during his time as CEO, took the stock past $20 and then below $5. He left in 2007 (and is now president and CEO of Touchstone Exploration Inc. (TXP: $0.15) in Trinidad). Mr. Smith was already a director of True by then, having joined the board in 2005, after selling his Meridian Energy to the trust for $3.85 a share. He became president and CEO of True in late January, 2009. True was trading at just over $1 and was struggling with heavy debt and sluggish production. A year and a half later, debt was down, cash flow was up and True had become a corporation called Bellatrix, a name that Mr. Smith chose because, as he explained to the media, it is the name of a star and Bellatrix was a "rising star." The stock did indeed enjoy a rise all the way up to nearly $12 in mid-2014. Unfortunately, its old problems with debt and lower-than-hoped-for production reared up again, compounded by weak commodity prices. Bellatrix was forced to spend much of 2016 cleaning up its balance sheet. Despite its best efforts, it is still hovering around the $1 mark, and may have to roll back its shares if it wants to keep its threatened NYSE listing (as announced on Feb. 3).

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