Enterra Energy Trust (NYSE: ENT) closed last Friday at $8.12, up fifteen cents for the day and far above its a 52-week low of $6.68. While $1.44 would be a nice profit from that November 2006 low, it had been as high as $19.50 last January 2006.

The AOL Money & Finance Profile reads: Enterra Energy Trust trusts in the energy interred in geological strata. Through subsidiaries the trust acquires interests in petroleum and natural gas properties. Its principal operating subsidiary is Enterra Energy Corp., which explores for and produces oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids in Western Canada (primarily in the Peace River Arch area). The trust's interests in crude oil and natural gas assets are held through Enterra Energy Corp., Rocky Mountain Acquisition Corp., and Rocky Mountain Gas Inc. Rocky Mountain Gas holds gas assets in Montana and Wyoming. The trust's proved and probable reserves are 19 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe), and its production averages 6,300 boe per day.

Earlier last week one of our readers brought ENT to my attention because James Cramer had recommended it a few months ago. I was floored when I took a brief look at the company and saw that Enterra Energy Trust is paying an 18.07% yield. That is very remarkable even to the 'untrained eye' - think novice investor. How long could that yield hold up? What is the rest of the story?

The ten-year chart above indicates that there was quite a lot of optimism about ENT the first 18 months of its public life, but that was followed by an internet bubble-type collapse from a high near $127.00 in late 1999. Its share price continued to deteriorate with from 2000 to 2002 after which it spent the last few years in a trading range between $5.00 and $10.00.