WTI $52.37 -64c, Brent $55.45 -56c, Diff -$3.08 +8c, NG $3.42 +3c

Oil price

The week ended down a little as those who believe that quotas will be busted shouted more loudly than the believers, empty vessels and all that. The rig count actually fell, by 6 overall to 659 and in oil by 7 to 522 but the above were shouting too loudly about 9 or even 10m b/d from the USA in the future.

So now to my familiar rant, Dav-oh and all its pretentious and back slapping clap trap. I will be monitoring companies who waste shareholders money (tickets etc average €29,000 each person) and will try and find the wonderful graph that shows how badly companies perform after their Primadonna executives schmooze with other C suite grand fromages. 17th -20th if you have the 30 grand to spare and of course can find some lodgings…. The President of China is there tomorrow and Joe Biden and John Kerry have still got the White House Amex card with them at least until Friday morning when the swamp starts draining….

Hurricane Energy

Hurricane  announced this morning that it has spudded the 205/23-A well (Halifax well) which will drill below local structural closure  and then perform an open hole DST and subject to results, possibly deepen to investigate the oil water contact. The reason for all this is that the adjacent Lancaster Field possibly extends its boundary into the recently awarded P2308 licence which is contiguous to and extends North Easterly, from that discovery, indeed is is possible that it extends up to the Rona Ridge.  This will be the concluding well of this drilling programme and as such, by the time this well result is announced towards the end of Q1 of this year, have made the most significant oil find in British waters for many years.

Independent Oil & Gas

IOG has signed an MOU to buy a disused gas pipeline in the Southern North Sea for a nominal amount. After recommissioning (and a prize if anyone can think of another in the North Sea) the pipeline will provide for the evacuation of gas from the Blythe hub, the Vulcan satellites and possibly the recent Harvey discovery. It also comes with associated onshore facilities which makes sense but not as much sense as ownership confers which mean no tariff to pay and thus better economics, indeed one day they might be in a position to charge 3rd parties for its use. The company rightly suggest that this is an acquisition of strategic importance, comes for a ‘nominal cost’ and has the approval of the OGA, whats not to like.

The announcement also updates the market on the Skipper appraisal well which produced as expected 11º API oil that might be extractable but would ‘present a challenge for refining and marketing and trade at a significant discount to  the current Brent price’. Whilst there is little doubt that this will be hard work, it does have a very low wax content and is mobile in the reservoir so probably best not to rule it out altogether.

And finally…

In the USA we are getting closer to the Superbowl, to be held in Houston on 5th February, my invitation must be about to be sent out as it is getting late to ignore me… This weekend the Packers beat the Cowboys with three seconds left and will next up meet the Falcons whereas the Steelers beat Kansas and will face the Patriots to be in that in that final.

The Australian Open tennis is under way and this morning both Sir Andy and Mr Evans went through.

In the footy Chelski, Spurs and the Gooners all won easily whilst the HubCap Stealers went to the Theatre of Dreams and got a draw.

James DeGale got a draw and was probably happy to get that, he also left his two front teeth on the canvas….

And in the first cricket One Dayer England set India 350 and sat back and watched them win, not quite what they expected.