U.S. charges Penn West Petroleum with accounting fraud

U.S. financial regulators on Wednesday said they have charged Canada-based oil and gas company Penn West Petroleum Ltd and some of its top finance executives with accounting fraud.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in a statement alleged that Penn West Petroleum, which changed its name earlier this week to Obsidian Energy, had moved hundreds of millions of dollars from operating expense accounts to capital expenditure accounts. The complaint was filed in federal court in Manhattan.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey and Tim Ahmann; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)