WTI $63.82 +77c, Brent $66.84 +65c, Diff $3.02 -12c, NG $3.65 +6c

Oil price

Another quiet day yesterday as traders told me that the rally was really only a technical bounce. A number of companies are reporting cuts to their capex budgets next year which is the first sign of production easing in the long term.

The API yet again confounded the scribblers reporting a build in crude stocks of 4.4m barrels against a consensus of a draw of 2.2m….

President

President has reported that the Lapacho x-1 well has seen ‘very encouraging hydrocarbon shows encountered throughout the gross formation thickness’. They say that there is probably more than 80m of Santa Rosa reservoir sandstone and that the results are in line with pre-drill estimates. There will be another announcement in ten days and I will comment more then or if I speak to the company today or tomorrow.

Fastnet

Carol Laws has taken over as CEO at Fastnet as Paul Griffiths steps down, Will Holland remains as CFO. Current market conditions have not helped Fastnet as the Celtic Sea farm-out has been delayed as has the onshore Morocco deal. However long term the portfolio is in good shape and pretty robust which is what is needed at the moment.

A short blog today as news flow is drying up and I am off to interview Pantheon CEO Jay Cheatham for TipTV.

And finally…

Unfortunately the HubCap Stealers were unable to pull it off and failed to win at Anfield but Arsenal went through ok. Tonight the Noisy Neighbours are in Roma and Chelski host Sporting.

Michael Clarke completed his innings and scored an emotional century in the test against India.

And today sees the 5th one dayer in Sri Lanka, England are 3-1 down in the 7 match series and Captain Cook is back in the side.