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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery added $1.45 to $47.33 on the New York Merc, while Brent for July added $1.49 to $50.22 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $9.55 to WTI ($37.78), unchanged. Natural gas for June added six cents to $3.29. The TSX energy index added 4.01 points to close at 199.40.

Clay Riddell's Alberta Montney-focused Paramount Resources Ltd. (POU) added $2.22 to $20.11 on 2.1 million shares, vaulting back over the $20 mark for the first time since August, 2015. Investors liked its first quarter financials and boosted budget for 2017. Production for the quarter came to 16,163 barrels of oil equivalent a day, well above analysts' predictions of about 14,100 barrels a day, while cash flow of 26 cents a share exceeded predictions of 19 cents a share. The production level has risen sharply since Paramount overhauled its business last summer by selling its formerly core assets to Seven Generations Energy Ltd. (VII: $26.31) for $2.1-billion. It needed the money to eliminate its debt, which had been about $1.9-billion at the beginning of 2016. This debt was one of the anchors tugging the stock down to its early 2016 low of just $2.86. Shareholders who bought then have seen the value of their investment go up sevenfold (although shareholders who bought at the mid-2014 high of over $66 remain out of luck). Of course, the debt was not the only thing that the sale to Seven Generations eliminated. It also wiped out most of Paramount's production, leaving it with about 10,000 barrels a day as of mid-August. The first quarter results released today show that this number has risen far more quickly than analysts had expected.

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