WTI $54.11 -$2.36, Brent $59.27 -$1.91, Diff $5.16 +$1.83, NG $3.64 -6c

Oil price

Whilst there may be blogs next week, subject to oil price shenanigans and company announcements I wouldnt hold your breath! The oil markets are very lacklustre and clearly positions are being closed off ahead of the Christmas holiday period.

Both WTI and Brent had wild swings yesterday, WTI ranged $4.68 and Brent $4.52 but there are the faintest signs that despite these movements some sort of a base is being attempted but its a long way to go yet. Ahead of expiry WTI was the weaker, pushing  the differential back above $5 but lets see how things pan out.

Alkane Energy

Alkane has announced its biggest ever contract, talk about finding a quiet day to bury good news! DECC has announced its Capacity Programme Awards and Alkane has won a contact for cost effective fast response engines which will add revenue of £14.4m and more importantly give long term visibility over 15 years. This is definitely a stock to hang on in there with and for sure will be on the ’15 bucket list…

Caza

A quick word on the announcement yesterday from Caza on Marathon Road which was yet again full of good news. The development well did 1.928 boe/d of which 1,698 was oil and 1.38 mcf of gas. On the East Marathon Road property 19-2H well there was 1,356 boe/d of which 1,177 b/d was oil and 1.072 mcf of gas. Apart from being another two great results this test well earns Caza full rights in the lease which will be very valuable.  I will repeat that these consistently good performances merely show just how undervalued Caza is even at $56.47 for February WTI and investors should not panic, the value here will out.

Velocys

The reason that the blog is late today is not just as there is not much going on. This morning in the latest in my TipTV CEO interviews I was very lucky to get Roy Lipski in the studio to talk about Velocys. The interview, to which the link is below went very well and the 15 minutes went in no time at all, this stock is a very interesting long term play which I have written up in the past, it also has a blue chip cast of investors like rarely seen before.

http://www.tiptv.co.uk/archives/9095/

Sundry

I notice that in my absence yesterday that Independent Oil & Gas announced that DECC had extended its Cronx licence by a year. IOG has some  very interesting acreage and a southern gas hub which will probably become very valuable and is definitely one for the watch list…

Iona Energy has popped up in the industry newswires saying that it is ‘at risk of debt trouble’ which I will investigate and come back on if appropriate.

And finally…

England cricket selectors are huddled in a room at the moment choosing the team and more importantly, the captain for the upcoming World Cup, love to be  a fly on thew wall there…

In the rugby we are back to the Prem with standout fixtures probably being Saints v Leicester and Gloucester v Bath is usually quite tasty…

In the footy the two best fixtures are on Sunday with the Tyne/Weir derby and of course the Gooners hosting the HubCap Stealers. Elsewhere tomorrow sees the Eagles going to MiddleEastlands, the Toffees at the Saints, the Hammers host the Foxes and Man U go to Villa Park.

If this is your last read before Christmas then have a Merry one and a very Happy New Year, for everyone else, see you next week.