This item is part of Stockwatch's value added news feed and is only available to Stockwatch subscribers.

Here is a sample of this item:

by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery lost 41 cents to $82.21 on the New York Merc, while Brent for September lost 37 cents to $85.03, with both benchmarks notching a weekly loss (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $13.40 to WTI, up from a discount of $14.30. Natural gas for August added six cents to $2.33. The TSX energy index lost a fraction of a point to close at 285.68.

Adam Waterous's Alberta and Saskatchewan oil sands producer, Strathcona Resources Ltd. (SCR), added 23 cents to $32.09 on 50,000 shares. The bulk of the market's attention continued to be on the company's new $2-billion carbon capture agreement with the Canada Growth Fund, as discussed yesterday. Little noticed was today's quiet withdrawal of Strathcona's credit ratings by one of the "Big Three" rating agencies.

The agency was Fitch Ratings, which up until now has had an overall rating on Strathcona of B+, four steps into junk territory. Fitch also had a B/RR5 rating on Strathcona's $500-million (U.S.) senior unsecured notes due in 2026. (B is one rung lower on the ladder than B+, while RR5 is at the low end of a scale from RR1 to RR6, with the former essentially representing a prediction of full recovery and the latter representing a prediction of, at best, pennies on the dollar.) Today, Fitch affirmed Strathcona's overall rating at B+ and upgraded the notes' rating by one notch to B+/RR4. It then announced that it is withdrawing all of its ratings "for commercial reasons."

The remainder is available to Stockwatch subscribers.
Sign-up for a FREE 30-day Stockwatch subscription and SEE NO ADS