WTI $103.31 +88c, Brent $110.47 +6c, Diff $7.16 -87c, NG $6.15 +60c

Oil price

The differential narrows, again as support for WTI continues, it is in ‘rampant’ backwardation and the contract expires today. My trading spies tell me that despite the alleged bad economic news from China it is they who are the big buyers in the market at the moment, meanwhile Brent is well offered. The Chinese manufacturing activity shrank to the lowest in 7 months and employment fell at the fastest rate in 5 years but I am not worried about my demand figures at all.

The API inventory stats showed a fall in crude inventories of 473/- barrels, less than the forecasts of around a one million barrel draw. Meanwhile take a look at the natural gas price, last night it closed at $6.15, this morning it has touched $6.40, no doubt that alternative fuels every where will be coming on at generating units, boosting coal and probably WTI as well!

Petrofac

Petrofac has won a contract worth $1.2bn from BP for the central processing facility at the Khazzan gas project in Oman. Convertible into a lump sum EPC project, the cpf work is scheduled to go on for three years. PFC appears to be having a decent rally and as you know I felt that the bearishness had been overdone and I remain a buyer at these levels.

Kentz Corp – All change-no change.

After I had read the release this morning I had to call the company IR to make sure I hadn’t misread the announcement as it seemed to be much of the same. True, Eoin Hurley is semi-retiring after nearly 30 years service but most other things don’t change. EPC is to be renamed Engineering and Projects and will include the Valerus acquisition and will be run by Tush Doshi.  The other division will be named Construction and TSS and will effectively be all the rest and will be run by Mike Murphy.

It is tempting to think that might be restructuring for the sake of it but with Eoin’s retirement and the Valerus stuff having to go somewhere I am happy to give the management the benefit of the doubt! Overall still my favoured stock in the services sector.

Essar Energy – Stop wasting all out time…

Another bunch of articles all saying much the same thing, top ten shareholders (except of course the 80% shareholder…) are complaining that they are being done over and that the Ruia family run the risk of ‘ruining their reputation’. As if they care, I suspect they know that their reputation is already in tatters and as for the minority shareholders its a tough call, stay and fight or accept you have been done over which was a tad inevitable from the start.

Dong/Wind farms kill birds-official…

Dong has ditched the second phase of the London Array wind farm in the Thames Estuary as the red-throated diver’s plight is put above Dong’s plans, and so it should. I have said for a very long time that the damage done to wild life, worldwide is so horrendous that if the RSPB looked at it in any detail there wouldn’t be another one built anywhere, check out an article in The Times last year…

And finally…

The Chosen One said at the weekend that Arsene Wenger was ‘ a specialist in losing’ which after the FA Cup game against the HubCap Stealers appeared a slightly dodgy call but if he was watching last night it would have restored his faith in himself which I suspect he never doubts! At times it was like watching the Barca game the night before, crossed with England taking pens, a true nightmare. And afterwards it must be said that listening to Michael Ballack was a joy, understanding what Jamie Carragher had to say was infinitely harder..

Tonight in the Boropa Cup Swansea play Napoli and Spurs host FC Dnipro in a last ditch effort to play against a side with no vowels in it…

Fantastic to see the UK (geddit?) curling lads get to the Olympic final last night, all set to watch them tomorrow, in the meantime our girls have won the bronze this morning, we will keep all this lot Alex…

Meanwhile, in Scotland, students have turned out in record numbers at Glasgow University to elect Edward Snowden as their Rector, if only they turned out in such numbers for their lectures they would be truly dangerous…

And the economic diary tells me that Barclays CEO, Antony Jenkins, is speaking at the European Financial Services Conference, for chrissakes man get back to your desk and do some work. (But make sure you go first class like all the rest of your staff…)