The Financial Post reports in its Thursday edition that for Canada's oil and gas sector, 2024 is shaping up to be a tale of two commodities. Postmedia's Chris Varcoe writes that oil prices have marched higher over the past month while natural gas prices across North America continue to languish. Natural gas prices in North America remain weak due to high inventory levels and warmer-than-normal winter weather crimping demand. In Canada, a handful of companies have deferred gas drilling or have shifted spending to oil. Meanwhile, benchmark U.S. oil prices are up more than 20 per cent this year. In Canada, the price differential between West Texas Intermediate and Western Canadian Select heavy oil has also been shrinking with the approaching start-up of the Trans Mountain expansion project. In Canada, the country's largest gas producer, Tourmaline Oil, said in March it would reduce its forecast capital budget by $220-million this year to $2.13-billion given weak gas prices. Birchcliff Energy chief executive officer Chris Carlsen, whose company announced in January it would defer drilling 13 gas wells planned for the first half of the year until later in 2024, said Tuesday the company will revisit its decision in June.