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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery added 50 cents to $44.74 on the New York Merc, while Brent for August added 66 cents to $47.31 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $10.20 to WTI ($34.54), unchanged. Natural gas for July added three cents to $3.07. The TSX energy index added 1.45 points to close at 173.94.

Penn West Petroleum Ltd. (PWT), doing business as Obsidian Energy Ltd., lost eight cents to $1.66 on 5.94 million shares. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has dredged up some accounting trouble from the past. It has filed charges against the company and three of its former officers, Todd Takeyasu (former chief financial officer), Jeffery Curran (former vice-president of accounting and reporting) and Wally Grab (former operations controller), accusing them of conducting a "multiyear accounting fraud" from 2012 to the first quarter of 2014. Specifically, according to the SEC's 81-page filing, the defendants "intentionally and improperly reclassified hundreds of millions of dollars of operating expenses as capital expenditures or royalties, without adequate documentary support or basis in reality." The purpose of the fraud, says the SEC, was to "artificially lower reported operating costs and make Penn West's financial condition appear more robust than it was."

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