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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery added $1.32 to $81.95 on the New York Merc, while Brent for May added $1.32 to $86.75 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $16.00 to WTI, down from a discount of $14.20. Natural gas for April lost four cents to $1.62. The TSX energy index added 5.49 points to close at 284.14.

Sue Riddell Rose's Alberta gas junior, Perpetual Energy Inc. (PMT), started the week in a cheery mood, climbing 15 cents to 56 cents on 784,800 shares. It has finally resolved a lawsuit that has dragged on for nearly six years. The settlement requires no admission of liability or wrongdoing, and although Perpetual will need to fork over a total of $30-million, the payments will be spread out over several manageable years. A relieved president and chief executive officer, Ms. Riddell Rose, said she is "pleased to put this matter behind us and move forward."

The lawsuit, filed in 2018, stemmed from a package of thousands of shallow gas wells in Eastern Alberta that Perpetual sold in 2016. The sale price was a nominal $1. Local news junkies may remember the eye-catching bulletin that Perpetual put in a community paper to explain the sale. "We couldn't afford the taxes -- so we basically gave away our assets!" it claimed. According to 2015 SEDAR filings, the taxes worked out to an absurd 130 per cent of operating netbacks, making the assets deeply cash flow negative. Perpetual said it tried talking to the municipalities about the "extreme" taxes, even offering to donate the assets in exchange for tax relief, but had no success. It took a nominal $1 from an interested buyer and walked away -- the catch being that the buyer also had to assume the wells' hefty abandonment liabilities, which came to about $134-million.

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