WTI (June) $102.27 -$4.15, Brent (July) $109.87 -$4.57, Diff -$7.60 -42c.

USNG (June) $2.79 -8c, UKNG (June) 114.50p -5.25p, TTF (June) €46.035 -€2.19.

Oil price

An interesting day, as I write at 13:00 hrs there is significant change going on, with news that initially the news that ‘great progress’ was being made on the Iran talks, from the US delegation said. Axios reported later in the morning that a ‘memo’ had come from Iran that said that they might be able to agree with the US proposals.

These apparently include a nine year enrichment ban, regular and snap nuclear inspections and some other requirements not yet obvious. Oil has fallen sharply and as I write WTI is $90.73 off $11.54 and Brent is down $11.97 at $97.90 so clearly the markets think that there is something in it.

Retail gasoline in the US rose sharply last week, the EIA announced that the average price was $4.52 per gallon, up 32.9c w/w. The API inventory stats which whilst not that accurate at the moment showed a build of 3.719 barrels with gasoline drawing by 4m b’s. 

But as ever anything can, and probably will happen….

Union Jack Oil

Union Jack has announced that, further to the update on 1 May 2026, the Company has been informed by Reach Oil and Gas Company Inc, that the Crossroads Well was spudded on 5 May 2026. The drilling period is expected to be approximately 10 days and shareholders will be informed of the results in due course.

Union Jack currently holds a 43% interest in the project. The Company’s share of the drilling costs have been funded from its existing cash resources.

After the modest delay to the spud of the Crossroads Well it is good to see that Reach has got underway and that the drilling will take approximately 10 days. This is an important well for UJO, it has a meaningful 43% stake and thus success here will be of significance.

The US operation has proved successful, is fully funded and capable of making a meaningful contribution to shareholder value. Along with what is an increasingly valuable UK domestic portfolio, especially in today’s world the upside for the stock looks ever more substantial.

Union Jack shares are up 8% as I write, 25% over one month and 37% over six, making that into a decent longer term performance would be relatively simple should this well come in and the value in the UK part of the portfolio be achieved, something I can see happening. My target price of 30p may look optimistic but I remain happy that is not unreasonable.

Deltic Energy

Deltic has announced a Selene Deferred Payment Agreement this morning.

Further to Deltic’s announcement on 12 December 2025, the Company announces that it has agreed with Shell U.K. Limited an extension to the payment date of amounts owed to Shell by Deltic in relation to: (i) in aggregate, £1,530,320, being the sums that have accrued to Deltic’s account in relation to the successful Selene exploration well from April 2025 to October 2025; and (ii) any further sums accruing to Deltic in relation to Selene after October 2025 (together the “Deferred Amounts”).

The payment date of the Deferred Amounts has now been deferred to 27 August 2026, although Deltic may request extensions of this date for up to a further three months, with the decision to grant any such extensions being at Shell’s sole discretion.

This makes a great deal of sense, for Deltic with three potential bidders lurking in the wings and likely to lead to corporate activity and for Shell a wise delay until its new partner is identified.

And finally…

In the Champions League last night the Gooners beat Athletico 1-0 thus going through to the final where they will play either Bayern or PSG who start their second leg at 4-5 aggregate with anything possible. The final is in the Puskas Arena in Budapest on Saturday 30th May at 20:00 hrs.

Chelsea seem to have a fans revolt on its hands, Monday’s 1-3 home defeat to Forest was excruciating, six losses on the bounce and now means that they cannot reach 5th in the Prem, only an outside chance of Europe as well and that assumes that the three B’s slip up in the run in and probably need the Eagles to win their cup as well…