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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery lost $1.17 to $66.22 on the New York Merc, while Brent for June lost $1.16 to $71.42 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $16.65 to WTI ($49.57), down from a discount of $16.80. Natural gas for May gained two cents to $2.76. The TSX energy index lost 3.16 points to 188.75.

The most active stock on any Canadian exchange was Spartan Energy Corp. (SPE), down two cents to $6.17 on 28.08 million shares. It is being acquired by Vermilion Energy Inc. (VET), which is down $1.29 to $42.75 on 4.51 million shares. Spartan's shareholders will receive 0.1476 of a Vermilion share in exchange for each Spartan share held, valuing Spartan at $6.50 a share. As well as issuing $1.23-billion worth of shares, Vermilion will assume $175-million worth of Spartan's debt.

Spartan is producing 23,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, mostly light oil in Saskatchewan. The company was formed in early 2014 from the merger of Alexander Energy and Renegade Petroleum. In the three years after its formation, Spartan expanded its light oil assets in Saskatchewan, boosting its production to about 21,500 barrels a day in early 2017 from about 6,400 barrels a day in early 2014. In 2016, to finance its asset purchases, Spartan sold equity offerings, thus raising its share count to 526 million from 264 million. In June, 2017, it rolled back 1 for 3, undoing its bloating. It now has 176.6 million shares issued. Unfortunately, those who bought shares in the 2016 offerings are down today, given their rollback-adjusted break-even prices of $7.23 to $9.54 a share. Shortly after Spartan was formed, its stock peaked at a rollback-adjusted $14.97.

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