WTI $95.54 +$2.66, Brent $102.77 +$2.43, Diff $7.23 -23c, NG $3.85 -4c

Oil price

A game of two halves yesterday as the oil price ran up sharply on the news of a possible peace deal in Ukraine as well as seeing good economic stats in the US. Factory goods orders showed better than expected growth and auto sales were at a near nine year high after another record gain.

They had better start driving those cars soon as after the market closed the API stats showed that gasoline stocks rose when the market was expecting a draw, that and the crude draw being less than expected was a down on the oil price and it is a good 50 cents down this morning.

Genel Energy

The company had high hopes for the Dilolo-1 well offshore Angola but this morning has announced that it is a dry hole. I await a bit more from the company about the prospects as the announcement is necessarily brief.

President Energy

Some better news from President today and maybe, just maybe my faith in them after the last well is looking justified! The preliminary specialist evaluation of logs and rocks from Jacaranda show ‘significant gas and condensate with the potential of oil in the north’. With the Lapacho well spudded things may be looking up for President…..

I’m off for a busy day of meetings starting with a TipTV CEO interview, today with Keith Bush of Northern Petroleum which should be very interesting.

And finally…

Muzza was still playing when I woke up this morning but lost in four sets, his back is clearly still a problem but its getting better…

England beat Norway 1-0 in what sounds like a dreadfully boring game at Wembley last night, think they were lucky to lure 40,000 away from the bake off…

And England’s women won their T20 competition by beating South Africa yesterday.

Finally I would like to wish a very happy retirement to John ‘Coulsy’ Coulson who hangs up his boots today after a glittering career in stockbroking primarily spent with a bunch of reprobates at the legendary James Capel, some of whom will gather tonight to ensure that he is gone. JC was always fun to work with and his dry and laconic sense of humour led him to describe one of his colleagues in a mock school report as ‘Rodney does his best work in the morning’, pip pip….