WTI $40.83 +$1.32, Brent $43.10 +$1.30, Diff $2.27 -2c, NG $2.84 +11c

Oil price

It was mostly down to inventory news yesterday and the EIA provided a mixed report that the market chose to read bullishly. Although the crude number showed a build of 1.4m barrels against the whisper of a draw of 1.5m, there was a 1.1m draw at Cushing which helped. Much more importantly given recent concerns about the product market, gasoline drew 3.3m barrels against a forecast of only -0.3m. The dollar didnt help, better employment data gave it strength and a feeling that the Fed may tighten as soon as next month.

Over here it’s a big day at the Bank of England who’s MPC meet and may decide to lower rates again. Whilst it is pretty difficult to see how another 25bp’s can make much difference it makes all those right wing economists who have been calling for rate rises for years look even more stupid, you know who they are. Finally, workers for Wood Group start their strike today on seven Shell platforms in the North Sea, the words leg and to stand on come to mind.

Range Resources

Yet more good news from RRL this morning as they update the market on their Trinidad drilling programme. The current well, MD 251 has reached TD ahead of schedule and encountered 60′ of oil pay in the middle cruse sands. This well and the MD 250 will  now proceed to production testing and the company anticipates bringing them both into production ‘in the current quarter’.

Meanwhile, the RRDSL rig, 18, has received Government approval and will drill the LD-1 which is now next in the 2016 programme and located at the Morne Diablo field. LD-1 is a vertical well and replaces the LD-3 which had been planned to be a directional well, it seems to be just as efficient and doesnt change forecast production levels.

Range still plans to drill a development well each on Morne Diablo and Beach Marcelle and an exploration well on the Guayaguayare block this year.

Aminex

The company announced recently that only 49.7% of the Open Offer had been taken up, today they announced that the rump being 99.3m shares had been placed in the market so that the full £1.9m is raised. Good news for Jay and the team and worth watching out for the next shareholder register….

Antrim Energy

Antrim Energy will go down in the business school history books as a company that managed to destroy shareholder value on a truly historic scale. In 2012 the shares were 75p before falling to a low of 1.23p in January of this year. With the Irish acreage continually looking a distant prospect you might think that there was little the management or shareholders could do, unless of course there had been a bid for the company in the meantime. In November 2014 Antrim’s board rejected an offer by Sound Oil (then) worth around 3.44p in Sound paper who offered to combine expertise and financials although admittedly taking out the substantial Antrim costs and take advantage of their cash balances. Shame it never went to the Antrim shareholders who would have done very well and that is not with 20:20 hindsight, I said it at the time.

So, today AEY shareholders are being asked to dissolve the company and put it into voluntary liquidation where they may get C$ 0.05 equaling US$7.15m ‘or lower, possibly substantially lower’ subject to various scenarios. Apparently they cant sell the offshore Ireland acreage owing to ‘divergent views between buyers and sellers’ and think that now is the time to call it a day.

SDX Energy

Apparently some versions of the blog yesterday didnt get a satisfactory link to the interview that I conducted with Paul Welch, CEO of SDX Energy on Tuesday. I hope that the link below is working properly this time.

TipTV interview with Paul Welch of SDX Energy

And finally…

England made heavy weather of batting at Edgebaston yesterday having been put in on what seemed like a docile track. Going back to their traditional expertise of getting out playing rubbish shots to mediocre bowlers, they will be relying on some better work today.

And the happy Hammers play their first game at the Olympic stadium ( sorry, The London Stadium) tonight against NK Domzale of Slovenia. Down 1-2 from the first leg the Irons will still be missing players who are on holiday after the Euros, wont be able to sing ‘we’ve got Dimi….’.