WTI $103.76 +1c, Brent $108.80 +6c, Diff $5.04 +5c, NG $4.53 -4

Oil price

The oil price whirled around yesterday particularly in the Brent market which took in a $2.40 swing during trading which is not commonplace. Having moved up to a session high of $110.35 on the back of further troop movements and general news from the Ukraine it weakened in line with WTI on the inventory stats. Those stats again confounded analysts, they had been expecting a build of around 1.2m barrels so when the actual figure was over 10 million barrels they went back to their kennels having yet again failed to read the market. The stock figure did worry the market but with 5 million barrels down at the coast all eyes turned to the Gulf refineries where clearly capacity utilisation was not as high as one might expect the week before Easter and five weeks before the driving season. This morning though, as the four way talks begin in Geneva to try and get some resolution to the Ukraine crisis, oil is up again and WTI is trading a bit over $104 and Brent at $109.50.

Shell

Shell has announced a significant gas discovery at its Rosmari-1 well on block SK318 offshore Malaysia. Owning 85% of this block is meaningful  even to Shell apparently as its press release is, for Shell, bordering on the exuberant.

Weir Group

The merger between Weir Group and Finnish engineer Metso is off after the latter described the merger as ‘not in the best interests of its shareholders’. Weir have said that their is a ‘compelling’ strategic rationale for the merger but that there is ‘ no certainty that it will revise the terms of its proposal’. Whilst Weir may revisit its terms and sweeten the deal it doesn’t look as if the Metso main shareholders are in favour and therefore prising much more out of Weir looks unlikely at this stage…

Caza Oil & Gas

The fact that the market has yet to appreciate the Bone Springs in New Mexico for what it is, a fantastic gift of oil and gas that just keeps on giving. Today Caza has announced another great result at West Copperline on its 29 Fed#2H well which after reaching TD and fraccing has produced 1,366 boe/d by the 12th of April. In addition the data showed oil and gas in three more separate intervals which is even more encouraging. Also in the update it seems that the Marathon Road well is averaging 1,913 boe/d over a month which is very good especially given it is a 600 acre drilling unit and so there will be much more to come from here later in the year. Caza will spud the fourth Copperline well in the next fortnight so expect more good news to come, the shares are criminally undervalued as just the cash flow will soon be flowing strongly and enable Caza to expand in this area which is proving to be a bonanza for them, at present the market hasn’t worked out this company laying golden eggs.

Wessex Exploration

Rule 1 when you have a shareholder trying to get rid of the board is to come up with a stunning wheeze that you hadn’t thought of until your own seat is in danger and it appears that is what has happened over at Wessex. The company announce today that it has ‘found’ and is in discussions with, a company in the Far East which is ‘capable of near term production’ and can be paid for in Wessex shares. In addition, out of the hat comes the ability to be able to fund drilling and into the bargain has a ‘highly experienced well known and successful management team’. Now isn’t that an amazing stroke of luck, the ability to find such an Easter gift and yet there is one more magnificent twist to the discovery…shareholders are only able to share this amazing pot of gold if they vote against the nasty bunch of dissidents at the upcoming General Meeting, what a fantastic coincidence! Isn’t it amazing that when your backs are against the wall and your job is on the line the Easter fairy comes along with the most amazing gift…

Sundry

Results out later from Schlumberger which is just being an absolute dream for me at the moment, as my favourite US service company (and in that sector there are many candidates) Schlum has a chart to die for and although the market may need a cracking set of figures to keep it up at this all-time high I am not going to stop liking it now.

Capture

Also out will be Baker Hughes and so the Easter break starts with a bang!

BP has a busy break although it has announced that it has now, four years after the incident finally finished the Macondo clean-up. More important will be its lobbying team who will be in Geneva to try and ensure that there aren’t any more sanctions against their new Russian friends who as we know, BP has a great deal of control over with its two seats on the Rosneft board.

Hurricane announced yesterday that it has mobilised the Sedco 712 semi-submersible as it prepares to drill the Lancaster basement play West of the Shetlands. The company is in for an exciting 90 days or so…

And I was on TipTV yesterday where I looked at four stocks which are, Thalassa Holdings, Faroe Petroleum, Andes Energia and IGas, you can see the interviews by going to the website www.malcysblog.com and clicking on the interviews section.

And finally…

Funny old night last night for footy as the noisy neighbours only just got a draw at home to bottom of the table Sunderland, that Sunday game at Anfield must have taken it out of them. Even more surprising was that Everton lost at home to Palace when they were finally close to the Champions league spot they covet and now they need a result against Man Who on Sunday. Palace have other troubles though as I hear they have a fight with Cardiff over a team selection mystery…

This weekend sees the two Prem leaders having very simple games, Chelski have aforementioned Sunderland at home and the HubCap Stealers go to Carrow Road to collect there three gimme points. Spurs v Fulham should be another good game as Spurs have nothing left to play for but Fulham certainly do.

And talking about Spurs, apparently Gareth Bale scored a wonder goal last night as Real beat Barca in the Copa del Rey, Barca now out of Europe and wont win the league, how the mighty are fallen…

Have a great Easter break, back on Tuesday unless something happens!