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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery added 27 cents to $68.70 on the New York Merc, while Brent for January added 28 cents to $72.56 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $12.00 to WTI, unchanged. Natural gas for December plunged 20 cents to $2.78. The TSX energy index added 6.51 points to close at 281.83.

The Riddell family's Alberta Montney- and Duvernay-focused Paramount Resources Ltd. (POU) climbed $4.18 to $31.46 on 3.95 million shares, after agreeing to sell the bulk of its Montney assets for $3.32-billion in cold hard cash. The assets contributed 67,600 of the 94,900 barrels of oil equivalent a day that Paramount produced in the third quarter. Paramount promised to set aside a "meaningful" -- though as yet unspecified -- amount of the sale proceeds to pay out as a distribution to shareholders.

"This transaction provides an opportunity to realize compelling value for the assets while retaining a significant inventory of growth opportunities," cheered president and chief executive officer Jim Riddell. The "significant inventory of growth opportunities" largely consists of Paramount's Duvernay assets and its remaining earlier-stage Montney ones. Mr. Riddell laid out ambitious -- if also unspecified, in terms of timing -- goals of boosting production from these two sets of assets to 66,000 barrels a day. For context, they contributed 13,200 barrels a day in the third quarter.

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