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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery lost 28 cents to $78.26 on the New York Merc, while Brent for April lost six cents to $83.62 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $18.50 to WTI, up from a discount of $18.90. Natural gas for April lost three cents to $1.86. The TSX energy index added 4.84 points to close at 263.11.

Oil sands giant Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (CNQ) added $4.63 to $94.54 on 19.3 million shares, soaring to a new all-time high after releasing its year-end financials, hiking its dividend and announcing a 2-for-1 share split. The shares spent the last two weeks climbing from about $80. Even after this run, investors liked today's update enough to send the share price near triple digits.

Canadian Natural patted itself for record fourth quarter production of 1.4 billion barrels a day. This was in line with analysts' predictions, while cash flow of $4.05 a share was nicely above predictions of $3.70 a share. The company added that its net debt was just $9.9-billion as of Dec. 31. Having achieved its sub-$10-billion debt goal earlier than expected, "we will now target to return 100 per cent of free cash flow to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks," declared management. It promptly hiked the quarterly dividend to $1.05 from $1.00, for a new yield of 4.4 per cent.

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