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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery lost 15 cents to $49.33 on the New York Merc, while Brent for July lost 27 cents to $49.32 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $11.85 to WTI ($37.48), up from a discount of $11.90. Natural gas for July added 1.8 cents to $2.169. The TSX energy index added a fraction to close at 188.90.

Alberta gas producer Bonavista Energy Corp. (BNP) lost 26 cents to $3.35 on 11.9 million shares, after announcing a $100-million bought deal of 29.85 million shares at $3.35 each. The company currently has 214 million shares outstanding. The last time Bonavista came to the market for money, it was July, 2014, and the company was able to raise twice the proceeds ($200.9-million) by selling fewer than half the shares (12.1 million, at $16.60 each). The stock has taken a hard fall since then. Part of the problem is Bonavista's heavy net debt, which was $1.2-billion as of March 31. The company says it will use the proceeds initially to reduce debt, with the goal of achieving "latitude" to boost its guidance once commodity prices reach a desired level. A boost would be a nice change of pace. Bonavista has had to do the opposite multiple times over the last several months, including once earlier this month. It originally wanted to spend up to $240-million this year to produce 76,000 to 79,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, but currently plans to spend $140-million to $145-million to produce 66,000 to 69,000 barrels a day. Thanks to its considerable hedges -- Bonavista has about 86 per cent of its gas and 73 per cent of oil hedged over the rest of the year -- the company says it should have enough money to cover its budget and its one-cent monthly dividend (which yields 3.6 per cent), with at least $70-million left over for debt repayment. It has also been trying to sell non-core assets to collect even more money. Given all that, investors likely did not expect to see Bonavista arrange to sell about one-10th of itself, at just one-fifth of the share price it traded at two years ago.

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