In a market where all energy sectors are reaping the benefits of high commodity prices and growing demand, the Canadian juniors were no exception in the second quarter, according to Calgary-based Iradesso Communications' quarterly report. The investor-relations firm covers 77 juniors and 33 trusts in its latest review. Among the juniors, "some of the returns achieved in the oil and gas sector during the summer months, not to mention the past couple years, have been spectacular," says Peter Knapp, president of Iradesso. Total daily production for the juniors in the second quarter was 193,000 barrels of oil equivalent (BOE). The leading juniors were Real Resources Inc. (Toronto: RER) at 10,600 BOE per day, Duvernay Oil Corp. (Toronto: DDV) at 9,900 and True Energy Inc. (Toronto: TUI) at 8,500. "Although we include companies with production up to 15,000 BOE per day, our comparison of juniors is often weighted towards smaller [companies] as there are many more of them," the firm reports. "As junior companies get larger, they are often acquired or converted to trusts." Among the trusts, Penn West Petroleum Ltd. (Toronto: PWT.UN) was the leading producer at 99,900 BOE per day, Enerplus Resources (Toronto: ERF. UN) was No. 2 at 75,500 and Pengrowth Energy Trust (Toronto: PGF.B) came in third at 57,900. Size matters. Large trusts may have more stability, better market recognition and access to capital, while small trusts have the ability to act quickly and grow production without needing to replace substantial declines, the firm reports. Juniors' share prices climbed an average 3% during the second quarter, and grew a sharp 23% on average during July and August. Stock-price appreciation in the five-month period was an average 27%. The trusts averaged a 3% total return, which includes distributions, for the quarter; in July and August, the average total return was 15%, and the total five-month average return was 18%. Also of note: median production per share was up 1% among the juniors in the second quarter, compared with the first quarter; for the trusts, median production per share fell 4%. "These statistics suggest that it is a challenge for both juniors and trusts to add production in the current environment on an accretive basis." Median annualized cash flow multiples for the juniors rose to 9.1 from 6.1 in second-quarter 2004 and the group has outpaced the trusts on market valuations on a per-flowing-BOE basis. The juniors' median metric was $78,274 per BOE per day, or 3% higher than that of trusts. The firm notes that this is changed from the first quarter when the trusts' valuation per flowing BOE was about 5% higher than that of the juniors. As for commodity mix in the second quarter, the juniors were still weighted more to gas than the trusts. The median mix was 68% gas production for juniors, while trusts averaged 58% gas. The number of juniors and trusts continues to grow. Since first-quarter 2005, there are eight more juniors and five more trusts, the firm adds.