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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery lost 19 cents to $70.39 on the New York Merc, while Brent for December slipped three cents to $74.22 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $11.20 to WTI, down from a discount of $8.00. Natural gas for November lost 13 cents to $2.36. The TSX energy index lost 1.25 points to close at 275.29.

Canada's oil patch is preparing for the first green shoots of the quarterly reporting season. Perennial early-bloomer PrairieSky Royalty Inc. (PSK: $28.06) will be the first to release its third quarter financials on Monday, followed by Whitecap Resources Inc. (WCP: $10.47) and Advantage Energy Ltd. (AAV: $9.17) on Wednesday and Thursday, with a hectic harvest to come over the next two weeks.

The sector's cheerleading squad (also known as analysts) is already practising for the pep rally. Not one but two analysts gave lovely shout-outs to oil sands producer Cenovus Energy Inc. (CVE), down three cents to $23.20 on 6.84 million shares. Cenovus will release its financials on Oct. 31. "Upstream Looks Good," predicted RBC analyst Greg Pardy in a research note this morning, adding that his predictions for quarterly production and cash flow are "slightly ahead" of the average among analysts. He kept an "outperform" rating on the stock and a price target of $29. Even more optimistic is TD's Menno Hulshof, who released his own research note late yesterday and reiterated his target of $31. While he flagged a possibility that the next financials "may underwhelm" in light of downstream (refining) challenges during the quarter, he remains a stalwart fan of Cenovus's "strong upstream performance and economic growth initiatives."

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