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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery lost 98 cents to $47.43 on the New York Merc, while Brent for October lost 53 cents to $52.04 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $10.30 to WTI ($37.13), unchanged. Natural gas for September added two cents to $2.95. The TSX energy index lost a fraction to close at 168.88.

Concerned eyebrows were raised across the oil patch after the National Energy Board (NEB) announced that it would broaden its assessment of TransCanada Corp.'s (TRP: $63.39) proposed Energy East pipeline to include upstream and downstream greenhouse gas emissions. The NEB previously considered only the emissions from the construction and operation of a project. Now it will also consider, in Energy East's case, emissions from extraction, processing, transportation, consumption and more. Green groups have been pushing for this for years, but industry is less enthusiastic, as the decision could add more burdens and delays to an already gruelling process. The NEB itself used to push back against the idea of considering upstream emissions, arguing that it did not have jurisdiction, as resource development is subject to provincial and federal environmental review processes under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. (Also, as one analyst -- Dirk Lever of AltaCorp Capital -- has sensibly put it, "It is not like any pipeline company can control the emissions on either side of the pipe.") Now it looks as though the NEB will be adding a layer of duplication.

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