WTI $102.40 -19c, Brent $108.96 -56c, Diff $6.56 -37c, NG $4.51 -35c

Oil price

As I mentioned yesterday the modest rise in WTI after the inventory stats was already lost in early trading and both crudes drifted all day. Traders tell me that Brent, having seen buyers earlier in the week was looking a bit tired with a few sellers around and has the chance to test the support at $7.40. WTI still outperforms and those who remember my call to sell the differential at $20 will know that I said I thought it might come back to $5, well at $6.56 its getting close…

Natural Gas is the interesting play here, the inventory stats last night showed a withdrawal of 95 bcf versus expectations of 104 bcf so the price fell more as demand wilted after the end of the bad weather. Worth looking at the chart (I am desperately hoping to get these soon!) which has not only good support here but there may be a chance to nip into the market and do a bit of bear closing as the bulls are being carried out down here.

Plexus Holdings

Yet another excellent contract for Plexus, this time a three year deal with AGR drilling for their well head technology. AGR will be drilling for Svenska, a new client, in Guinea Bissau, a new country, as the first well in the contract worth £400,000 which will see revenues in 1Q 2014. An excellent piece of news from this company which continues to demonstrate that leading edge technology can be provided by a small, brilliantly run team.

Oil Search

I mentioned the trading halt here earlier in the week as I think that PNG is a particularly interesting place and will provide a lot of LNG for the foreseeable future. The company are raising $1.09bn to fund the purchase of a 22.8% stake in the licence that contains the Elk, Antelope field for $900m from Pac LNG Group. The stock I have looked at for some time down there is New Guinea Energy, having recently done another deal and is looking particularly attractive at these levels.

Sundry

Pemex announced a net loss of $5.7bn but watch this one, I have been talking about the changes going on in Mexico for a long time and slowly but surely the time is coming for a renaissance in this country.

Foster Wheeler also released a truly dreadful set of figures that even after massive provisions for asbestos, write-offs and restructuring didn’t look that clever. I suspect that Samir feels he is getting a proper bargain here and with his experience he can make a bundle turning it round and merging it into Amec, not without its risks though…

Premier followed up its results with a comment that it was cutting back on North Sea expenditure because discoveries are too small and taxes are too high. All very well but when I last looked I thought there were some very attractive ‘value’ barrels in their North Sea portfolio…

Maersk has always intrigued me and I think that the oily side of the company is looking in increasingly good shape. Yesterdays figures were good but the board warned that 2014 would probably be about the same, I think that with increased production and on-going good news on the drilling front it will do better than even the 2013 figure.

And finally…

Boropa Cup last night and Spurs got through and Swansea didn’t, away at Napoli was always going to be hard going. Sunday sees the final of the Clueless Cup with the Maccams taking on the noisy neighbours, for Sunderland the treble is still on, Clueless Cup, FA Cup and relegation…

The Baggies did sack someone yesterday but it was technical director David McDonut who got the Spanish (geddit?) elbow, although with a tricky game against Man U this weekend  to avoid 0 and 7 Pepe may be in the departure lounge with him on Tuesday…

Read something that Oriel Securities might be absorbed into Keefe, Bruyette and Woods which is most interesting…

And Standard Life breathed some life into the yes/no vote by saying that you can take the high risk road but we will take the low risk road thereby taking out some protection for their primarily non Scottish domiciled investors…