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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery lost 79 cents to $48.49 on the New York Merc, while Brent for May lost 82 cents to $51.37 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $14.30 to WTI ($34.19), unchanged. Natural gas for April added three cents to $3.00. The TSX energy index lost a fraction to close at 197.29.

B.C. Montney producer Painted Pony Petroleum Ltd. (PPY) added seven cents to $6.11 on 1.71 million shares. Earlier this week, the stock slid below $6 for the first time since last May, as investors frowned on Monday's announcement about steep cuts to the company's 2017 and 2018 capital programs. As a result of the cuts, Painted Pony is now forecasting production of 43,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day in 2017 (down from the previous target of 48,000), followed by production of 60,000 barrels a day in 2018 (down from the previous target of 72,000).

President and chief executive officer Pat Ward headed to BNN yesterday, ostensibly to defend the cuts, although he ended up spending the first half of his eight-minute interview fielding questions about Shell's planned sale of oil sands assets to Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (CNQ: $43.38) (as discussed in yesterday's Energy Summary). The interviewer fretted about the continuing exodus of international majors from Canada's energy industry. Mr. Ward looked on the bright side. "[Canadian Natural] is always good at timing the bottom of the market in their acquisitions," he opined. He then deftly moved the conversation closer to Painted Pony's pasture, the Montney, by suggesting that Canada make itself more attractive to investment by building more export infrastructure, specifically liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects. (Montney producers are hoping to become major suppliers to the West Coast LNG industry, should it ever be substantially developed.) LNG projects are "high priorities ... [so] let's get on with it," declared Mr. Ward. He also wants more and better pipeline access, and noted that Painted Pony is one of the producers that participated in TransCanada's open season for a revised mainline tolling option. (The mainline carries gas from Alberta to Ontario. TransCanada recently offered to lower its mainline tolls in exchange for a longer commitment from shippers. Bidding ended yesterday, and TransCanada will soon announce whether enough bids came in to make the proposal viable. If it is, the targeted in-service date is Nov. 1, 2017.)

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