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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery added $1.05 to $59.63 on the New York Merc, while Brent for June added 94 cents to $66.78 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $10.40 to WTI ($49.23), up from a discount of $10.65. Natural gas for June added 14.5 cents to $2.75. The TSX energy index lost a fraction to close at 233.83.

Cenovus Energy Inc. (CVE) added 13 cents to $22.73 on 4.93 million shares, regaining some of the 53 cents it shed yesterday after releasing its first quarter financials. Net loss came to $668-million, a big drop from earnings of $247-million a year earlier. The drop was in part because the weaker Canadian dollar led to a $514-million foreign exchange loss related to U.S.-dollar debt. Production of about 295,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day was in line with analysts' predictions, and included 144,000 barrels a day from the Christina Lake and Foster Creek oil sands projects. Cenovus noted that its operating costs in the oil sands have fallen by nearly one-third compared with the first quarter of last year. It spent quite a bit of its press release, and its subsequent conference call, talking up its various efforts to cut costs and improve its balance sheet. Among other things, it is aiming for $200-million of operating and capital cost reductions this year, and it is also trying to arrange a sale or IPO of its royalty assets, something analysts estimate could raise as much as $2-billion. Management said during the call that there has been "substantive interest by substantive parties" in its royalty business, but it would not speculate on timing, substantive or otherwise.

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