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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery added $1.01 to $48.85 on the New York Merc, while Brent for July added 98 cents to $51.82 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $9.75 to WTI ($39.10), down from a discount of $9.55. Natural gas for June lost seven cents to $3.35. The TSX energy index added 2.15 points to close at 199.79.

Kurdistan-focused WesternZagros Resources Ltd. (WZR) lost half a cent to 26.5 cents on 13.2 million shares. It shot up 10.5 cents to 27 cents on Friday, when, about an hour before the close, it announced its plans to go private at 28 cents a share. The deal values the company at about $225-million and is expected to close in early July.

The one taking WesternZagros private is major shareholder Crest Energy. Crest has been an investor in WesternZagros since August, 2012. At the time, WesternZagros was still in the exploration stage, but hopes of near-term production were high. Crest, which was already active in Kurdistan -- it helped found the United States-Kurdistan Business Council in 2011 -- was optimistic enough to pour $57-million into WesternZagros by buying 40.7 million shares at $1.40 in August, 2012. That was enough for an interest of just under 10 per cent. Crest then boosted its interest to nearly 20 per cent in early 2013 by buying a further 53 million shares at $1.25. Its timing could have been much better. WesternZagros's stock touched a high of $1.58 in mid-2013, but then headed downhill, with only a short-lived pop in early to mid-2014 after WesternZagros filed declarations of commerciality for its two main blocks (Kurdamir and Garmian) and headed into the production stage.

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