WTI $52.11 +$1.60, Brent $60.64 +$1.65, Diff -$8.53 +5c, NG $3.50 -9c
Oil price
Oil rallied after the panic over the Chinese economic data as the Government stepped in to stabilise the economy, as it does. Opec+ announced a series of meetings to remind the world that it is serious about the cuts, March 17th to monitor progress and April to consider extending the time-frame.
Reabold Resources/Upland Resources
Reabold has announced that the Wick well is a duster with the target sands being water bearing. Whilst this is a disappointment it should be remembered that it was an exploration well and whilst its COS was at 30-40%, a little higher than some it still had no reason to be a banker.
RBD has said this morning that it was the highest risk in the portfolio and happy to go ahead as Corallian was carries and costs were low, as such it was ‘not representative of a typical RBD appraisal target’. The rig will now move to the Colter target which is not only has a better COS but should it come in be close to development infrastructure. RBD has this prospect as well as California, Romania and UK onshore either ongoing or imminent and the modest fall in the share price to a large extent validates the model and is why investors should not panic out of the company.
For Upland it was also a disappointment but they too point out exciting prospects in the portfolio including Tunisia and Sarawak.
Eco Atlantic Oil & Gas
Further good news for Eco Atlantic this morning in the shape of the Tullow trading statement in which it confirms that Guyana is to be the focus for its exploration programme in 2019. The company confirm that it is to drill the Jethro well on the Orinduik block in Q2 followed by at least one more likely this year, this is extremely good news for Eco who’s share price still does not anywhere near reflect the potential in the area.
Ophir
Missed out from yesterday the Ophir statement or as I described it on Monday, the shadow defence document. The starter pack was certainly there to repel boarders with the announcement of ‘rationalising frontier exploration portfolio’ (I thought they had done that already) to bring in some cash and to reduce commitments.
There is little doubt that the Santos deal has performed better than expectations, not surprising to those of us who applauded the deal when it was done. Reducing capex has cut net debt quite nicely to $35m and will be $70 this year against previous expectations of $105m. Production guidance remains at a cautious 25/- after well beating the forecast this year and looks conservative to me. A good stab at a dummy defence document but whether it will scare off the PT Medco bid is yet to be seen…
Touchstone
An update from Touchstone as well yesterday where they announced that 4Q production was 1,851 b/d and annually registered 1,718 b/d up 25% y/y. In the year they drilled 11 wells in Trinidad with 28 RCP’s. For 2019 they intend to focus on the Ortoire block exploration prospect and remain confident of success in the area.
And finally…
The Magpies eventually beat Blackburn in the FA Cup replay but not without extra time, going through 2-4 in the end.
