Last month Canadian Oil Sands Ltd stood alone.

This month a phalanx of Canadian energy producers slashed their payouts, including Aggressive Holding Baytex Energy Corp.

Other cutters over the past month include: Argent Energy Trust, Bonavista Energy Corp, Eagle Energy Trust, Lightstream Resources Ltd, Parallel Energy Trust, Penn West Petroleum Ltd, Spyglass Resources Corp, Trilogy Energy Corp and Zargon Oil & Gas Ltd.

Argent, Eagle, Lightstream, Parallel, Penn West, Spyglass and Zargon were all named on the December 2014 Watch List.

These cutters will be removed from the List, though we continue to advise that all Oil & Gas companies should be considered de facto members due to the volatile nature of energy commodity prices.

Baytex (TSX: BTE, NYSE: BTE) reduced its payout by 58.3%. The company also announced a 2015 capital budget of CAD575 million to CAD650 million, 30% lower than originally planned. Baytex is now a hold.

We’re adding Aggressive Holding Enerplus Corp to the List this month.

Enerplus plans capital spending of CAD635 million for 2015, down 23% versus 2014. It’s a budget designed to deliver production growth of up to 5% to 103,000 to 108,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and to “preserve financial strength amid commodity price uncertainty.”

Enerplus maintained its CAD0.09 monthly dividend for January and noted that it has no plans to change the payout.

At the same time, management “is monitoring commodity prices and economic conditions” and is “prepared to make adjustments as necessary to the dividend depending on the severity and duration of the downturn.” Enerplus is a hold.

ACTIVEnergy Income Fund, which is heavy on oil and gas exposure and has a history of cutting its payout amid declining crude prices, also joins the List.

Elsewhere, FP Newspapers Inc cut its annual dividend rate from CAD0.60 to CAD0.32 and will now pay CAD0.08 per quarter as opposed to CAD0.05 per month. Sell FP Newspapers.

Extendicare Inc, which recently sold its U.S. business, is also new to the List.

Dividends for the first nine months of 2014 totaled CAD54.3 million, which was equal to 58% of adjusted funds from operations (AFFO). This includes the AFFO from the U.S. business.