WTI $102.93 +64c, Brent $108.67 +39c, Diff $5.74 -25c, NG $4.12 -5c

Oil price

There was a small bounce in the oil price yesterday as tensions mounted in the Middle East this time around Israel. Brent bounced off the key support level of $108 but this morning is flirting with it again, as I write it is $108.04. The key piece of data the market wants to see is the Chinese GDP number next week but I am unconvinced it will make much difference to their crude demand unless the number is very high.

It’s report writing time from the big three, I looked at the EIA one on Wednesday and yesterday Opec released their first look at 2015 numbers. They see Opec’s share of the world oil market shrinking for the third year in a row in 2015 with demand expected to be 29.37m b/d, a fall of 0.31m b/d. Non-Opec crude will be up by 1.31m b/d this year but falling off slightly next year. The IEA report is out today and will likely echo those numbers.

Faroe Petroleum

Faroe has announced a discovery on Bue with an 18m hydrocarbon column which is very good but there is no connection between Pil and Bue which appears to have spooked the market. I would have expected with a successful well like this for the share price to have soared but for some reason the market is disappointed by the connectivity or lack thereof. I am going to get to the bottom of this and have calls into the CEO and CFO so will likely clear it all up on Monday, in the meantime I remain very bullish, I had a long meeting with Graham Stewart earlier this week which encouraged me no end. Todays numbers from Bue and a small upgrade on the Pil estimates give a middle of the range estimate net to Faroe of 35m boe which is 2m barrels more than the 33m boe that Faroe are carrying at the moment. More shortly as I really think this stock is seriously undervalued but want to double check before I press the button!

Sea Lion

Interest here for Premier and Rockhopper who have announced that the TLP FEED contract has gone to Amec, cynics will continue to be cynical, I don’t think that some people will believe in the project until they can fill up their cars with the stuff. Rockhopper also saw a trading update from MOG this morning which was as expected downbeat to say the least.

Thalassa

Thalassa has had a trading update this morning and says that it has experienced good trading in the year to date and has  ‘healthy’ levels of order enquiries. As a result the board expect another satisfactory performance this year. I like this company a lot and am hoping for a catch up before long, the shares which doubled from 150p odd this time last year have now lost a third of that but at 200p it looks very interesting to me. I think that the market hasn’t really latched onto it and its a bit of a slow burner but the technology is first rate and it has the capability to really shine one day.

And finally…

So the big day has finally arrived and Germany take on Argentina in the World Cup final or as I prefer to call it, the battle of the Popes. With an unusually large number of alive popes (2) we are about to find just who God favours the most…

Elsewhere in football the Gooners finally got their man signing Alexis Sanchez for £35m, looks like a bargain to me and shows that he didn’t want to go to Liverpool…Suarez lost his appeal and plans to go to the International Court of thingy.

Tour de France, what’s that? Pie in the Sky….

Rory McIlroy warmed up for next weeks Open by breaking the course record in the Scottish Open and on one hole drove the green with a distance of 430 yards, peaking early maybe but certainly dropping his odds for next week.

The fight is made between Floyd Mayweather and Marcos Midana, this rematch should be awesome if ever there was one.

And if you thought that cricket was boring then the Trent Bridge groundsman has just endorsed that opinion. The ECB has a lot to answer for, and I thought that losing English Kev would be the transformation point, as it is it’s the pitch wot done it. With another failure yesterday, Captain Cook is very lucky that the management have backed him and -previously sacked for bad results- Peter Moores who sat on the balcony watching a near 100 run partnership for the 10th Indian vicket with both players getting 50’s, one of whom’s previous best was 11, yes 11. Cook got 5 on this easy track.