WTI $59.72 -$1.00, Brent $65.37 -$1.17, Diff $5.65 -17c, NG $2.89 -6c

Oil price

There is nothing much that I can see in the oil market at the moment that would give the price much of an upward movement except perhaps further activity in the Middle East. With the greenback strong after the US inflation figures, the rig count easing and the speculators cutting long positions technically the market looks sated. Overall rigs were down 3 last week with a net fall of only 1 in oil with new rigs actually  appearing in one or two places, I get the firm impression that 6o bucks for WTI is reasonably comfortable for a lot of domestic producers. As to those speculative positions the last two weeks have seen a retreat from the highs with last week showing a fall of 7.6% in WTI length and 13.4% in Brent.

Added to that were the comments made at the weekend by the Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zangareh who stated that at the upcoming Opec meeting the cartel would ‘maintain production’. Whilst it is likely to maintain the status quo, there are still some stories doing the rounds that an across the board deal between Opec and non-Opec producers is being put together but dont hold your breath.

The only other possible reason for getting really optimistic at the moment are the reasonably positive signs of a global pick-up in the demand for products which has fed through to demand for crude thus offsetting any possible weakness in the market.

San Leon

All the good news and a tick up in the San Leon share price recently has been offset today by the company announcing that it has lost its case in the Court of Arbitration and has to pay £13m on behalf of its subsidiary Aurelian Oil & Gas. The company say in the statement that the decision is without merit and it has appealed the decision. Just when I was getting a bit upbeat about SL……

Range Resources

I havent written much about Range lately partly as it has been suspended since 11/12/14 which in my book means that if nothing is done by the 11th of June its future is pretty bleak. With the Chinese in control and the Core Capital funding falling through it looked like the company would be subsumed by the major shareholders who have the power to do what they like with the company. Todays news that they have signed an MOU with Beijing Sibo may be the last chance saloon and if they can get something over the line before 11th June then maybe all is not lost.

Sibo is providing between $20-35m and if I read it correctly, the statement says that the management, in a personal capacity, will invest the same amount themselves. Up to $70m would indeed refinance Range and cover the costs of the Trinidad programme especially as LandOcean seem to have that covered, I half expected them to be involved in the refinancing, indeed not knowing much about Sibo, they still might be…..I remain unconvinced that shareholders, other than those Chinese ones in control, will ever see any decent return on their money, another example of how it can be dangerous not to be careful about what you wish for.

Sundry

I notice that Tower Resources has issued 10.2m shares at 0.381p per share to pay a few bills. Of that, 6.6m were issued to the outsourced exploration department owned by MD Dr Mark Enfield and the rest in fees in lieu of pay and rations for assorted directors. It is not unusual for this to happen i’m told and the company routinely pays its bills in such a fashion, if I was Dr Enfield I would probably rather take the folding stuff…

And finally…

With the blog not going out completely on Friday some people received it yesterday, for which, apologies again.

The weekend sports fixtures backed up something rotten and only the most expert of channel flickers were able to keep up with all the events.

At Monaco the Mercedes back room boys proved that they were total wallys as they brought Lewis in and lost him the race, if I didnt know any better I would say it was fixed like last year…

The French Open tennis started yesterday and with a record number of Brits in the draw this time. I think that there may be only three left as I write but even that is unusual. Muzza is as confident as he has ever been on the surface although Rafa, despite injuries may have held everything back for this tournament where he is -almost- unbeaten.

In the Prem the final relegation spot was filled by Hull who couldn’t beat Man Who while the Magpies beat the happy Hammers for whom Big Sam left after the match. The Potters put 6 on the HubCap Stealers, it might have been worse and so Spurs pipped them for 5th spot, both though will be in the Boropa Cup next year.

Having almost forgotten Norwich twice, they easily saw off the challenge of the Boro and will rejoin the Premiership next season, good news for brother Max (do visit Satchells of Burnham Market for all your wine needs!) and also for James Pinner supporting the Canaries from New Zealand. In the other play-offs Preston easily beat Swindon and Southend performed a miracle by equalising in the 122nd minute and then going on to win on pens…

And of course no surprise to see the Wally with the brolly being sacked again as Derby managed to grab defeat from the jaws of victory and miss a play-off place. Knowing football he will get another highly paid job just like all the other losers tend to…

On the subject of New Zealand, wasnt that one of the best test matches you ever saw? From start to finish it was exciting, absorbing cricket and even though England took wickets off no-balls, Bell was butter-fingered and conceded well over 500 runs in the first innings they managed to win. For the loser of this series it means a visit to 7th position in the world rankings and nobody wants to see that…

England have, into the bargain, hired a new coach in Trevor Bayliss, deciding that Jason Gillespie isnt good enough, thank goodness for that Yorkshire fans are saying but TB come with a good pedigree and should liven up the process somewhat.

And James DeGale actually went to America and won on points, that takes a bit of doing although he tried to give it away late on…