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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery shot up $2.16 to $79.72 on the New York Merc, while Brent for May added $2.11 to $84.03 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $17.40 to WTI, down from a discount of $14.80. Natural gas for April lost five cents to $1.66. The TSX energy index added 4.53 points to close at 271.67.

Oil prices soared on a bullish report from the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA). The agency's latest weekly data revealed that U.S. crude inventories fell by 1.5 million barrels last week, whereas analysts had been predicting a rise of 1.3 million barrels. This was the first decline in seven weeks. Separately, oil prices got a boost from Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian refineries (which spurred fears of global supply disruptions) and optimism that the U.S. Federal Reserve may soon start lowering interest rates (which usually boosts demand).

Here in Canada, Andy Mah and Mike Belenkie's Alberta Montney gas producer, Advantage Energy Ltd. (AAV), added 11 cents to $10.10 on 386,800 shares. It has added John Festival to its board of directors. He will fill the vacancy left by Paul Haggis, who is retiring after 16 years on the board. Mr. Festival is currently the president and chief executive officer of Broadview Energy. Broadview is a private company that was most recently discussed in Stockwatch on Feb. 23, in relation to Cardinal Energy Ltd. (CJ: $6.67), to which Broadview sold a package of heavy oil assets last year. Prior to Broadview, Mr. Festival sold BlackPearl Resources to International Petroleum Corp. (IPCO: $15.51) for $1.85 a share in 2018, and before that he sold BlackRock Ventures to Shell Canada for $24 a share in 2006. He currently sits on the boards of Cardinal, Athabasca Oil Corp. (ATH: $5.14), i3 Energy PLC (ITE: $0.155) and now Advantage.

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