The Globe and Mail attempts to identify energy stocks that are successfully adding reserves while keeping costs down, and which may be good bait for value hunters, in its Thursday, April 26, edition. The Globe's Darcy Keith writes in the Number Cruncher column that oil prices are sizzling, Alberta's energy industry is bustling -- yet energy investors have had little to celebrate. Oil and gas has been among the worst-performing sectors of the stock market. Blame depressed natural gas prices and inflating costs in the industry, among other reasons. Mr. Keith looked at the average cost of adding one barrel of oil equivalent (BOE) to a company's proven reserves through exploration. He considered the average cost to produce one BOE. Then Mr. Keith considered the percentage of wells drilled during the past year that found oil or gas deposits in sufficient quantities to merit development. He also looked at the percentage of reserves consumed by production during the past year that were replaced through new discoveries, acquisitions and better recoveries. Firms adding reserves while cutting costs are Crescent Point Energy, EnCana, NAL energy, Penn West Petroleum, Legacy Oil + Gas and Whitecap Resources.