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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery added 25 cents to $46.08 on the New York Merc, while Brent for August added 14 cents to $48.29 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $10.35 to WTI ($35.73), up from a discount of $10.45. Natural gas for July lost two cents to $3.02. The TSX energy index lost a fraction to close at 183.38.

Another multinational is unloading its Canadian operations. Centrica, a British energy and services company, announced on Friday afternoon that CQ Energy Canada Partnership will be sold for $722-million cash. Centrica owns 60 per cent of CQ Energy, with Qatar Petroleum holding the rest. The sale is expected to close in the second half of the year.

Centrica says the sale is in line with the plan that it announced in July, 2015. That was the month it finished a "strategic review" aimed at restoring profits and reversing a steep slide in its stock. Among other things, Centrica said it would sell billions of pounds worth of wind and oil and gas assets, with the goal of improving its balance sheet and narrowing its oil and gas focus to the North Sea and the East Irish Sea. Its Canadian oil and gas assets, which it had spent years expanding -- notably in 2013, when its joint venture with Qatar Petroleum bought most of the conventional gas assets of Suncor Energy Inc. (SU: $41.03) for $1-billion -- went on the chopping block. The Suncor assets were producing about 42,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day at the time of their acquisition. These days, according to Centrica's website, the joint venture's Canadian business is producing about 60,000 barrels a day, mainly from Alberta and Saskatchewan. The business will now be sold for $722-million.

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