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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery added $1.10 to $71.19 on the New York Merc, while Brent for November added 95 cents to $73.70 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $15.90 to WTI, down from a discount of $15.20. Natural gas for October lost five cents to $2.32. The TSX energy index added 3.94 points to close at 263.57.

Robert Logan's oil sands producer, Greenfire Resources Ltd. (GFR), added 24 cents to $10.24 on 242,700 shares, after attracting a high-profile new investor. Adam Waterous's Waterous Energy Fund (WEF) has agreed to pay $327.7-million for a 43-per-cent interest in Greenfire, or 29.9 million of its 69.2 million shares. The price per share is $10.93. Nearly all of the 29.9 million shares will come from two Greenfire directors, Julian McIntyre (chairman) and Venkat Siva, who afterward will no longer be shareholders and will step down from the board.

The purchase is stirring up plenty of speculation about what Mr. Waterous might have in mind for Greenfire and whether it might involve his other public promotion, Strathcona Resources Ltd. (SCR), up 40 cents to $28.19 on 45,900 shares. WEF owns 90 per cent of Strathcona's 214 million shares. Under WEF's handling, Strathcona has spent the last seven years -- and nearly $7-billion on acquisitions alone -- shaping itself into the fifth-largest oil producer in Canada, with output of around 185,000 barrels a day. The 10-per-cent float shook loose last October, when the formerly private Strathcona merged with the public Pipestone Energy in order to go public on the TSX. Now investors are wondering if Greenfire is next on the shopping list. A merger would immediately boost production (adding about 20,000 barrels a day), would likely be structured in a way that increases Strathcona's liquidity (which management has already identified as a goal), and could be a backdoor to a dual listing on the New York Stock Exchange (where Greenfire trades under the ticker GFR).

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