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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery added 87 cents to $62.02 on the New York Merc, while Brent for March added $1.05 to $66.52 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $15.60 to WTI, up from a discount of $16.20. Natural gas for February lost 29 cents to $3.12. The TSX energy index added 8.00 points to close at 316.62.

Oil prices headed higher on fears of Iranian supply disruptions, with Iran threatening retaliation if the United States tries to intervene on behalf of anti-government protesters. The jitters offset a bearish U.S. supply report. In its latest weekly data release, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that U.S. crude inventories increased by 3.4 million barrels last week, whereas analysts were expecting a decrease of 1.7 million barrels.

Here in Canada, rumours are gaining steam that Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (CNQ), up $2.04 to $48.03 on 31.5 million shares, is eyeing gassy assets of Tourmaline Oil Corp. (TOU), down 73 cents to $58.41 on 5.29 million shares. As discussed last Friday, a weekly posting from the Competition Bureau disclosed that Canadian Natural and Tourmaline are in the middle of an "Ongoing" regulatory review. The posting did not go into details, but the immediate speculation was that Tourmaline had found a buyer for its 25,000-barrel-a-day Peace River/Charlie Lake assets, valued by analysts at anywhere from $800-million to $1.4-billion (depending on how bullish the analyst is on future gas prices). A Globe and Mail article this morning added to the buzz, saying unnamed sources have confirmed that the companies are in talks about the assets, which could go for "$1-billion-plus."

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