WTI (Sep) $75.77 -44.57, Brent (Oct) $79.36 -$4.41, Diff -$3.59 +16c.

USNG (Sep) $2.68 -10c, UKNG (Sep) 134.32p -10.27p, TTF (Sep) €54.95 -€4.005.

Oil price

Oil is up a little this morning, Brent back over 80 bucks as the market awaits the potential ceasefire that according to Qatar is almost ready for signing. Scott Bessent said on CNBC yesterday that a deal was ‘imminent’ and the POTUS said the same. 

But all is not certain and Iran are certainly pushing their luck as they are in talks with Oman about the future of the Strait of Hormuz. Word has it that they want to control all inbound shipping, with Oman taking care of the outbound but with that comes a demand for fees which might just be a breaker.

Either way there is a feeling that in the longer term we are nearing what is being called ‘Peak Hormuz‘, a situation whereby alternative routes for exporting crude from inside the Gulf are being rapidly explored and that in the long term Iran will have a much less valuable hostage strip. 

Oil is up as I said, but mainly as the Houthi rebels overnight said that they had hit a Saudi tanker at Yanbu and would continue to strike at will. 

Some stats out overnight, the API inventory numbers actually confounded the teenage scribblers with a build in crude oil of 2.69m barrels against a forecast of a draw…gasoline was level but distillates unsurprisingly drew by 1.2m b’s. 

And the EIA released US retail gasoline prices which showed a small fall of 1.7 cents w/w but over the month were up 30.2c and of course were up by 93.9c year on year.

Angus Energy

Angus has announced its Annual Maintenance Shutdown Completion

·    Annual maintenance shutdown completed safely, with no accidents, injuries or harm to the environment.

·    Production resumed intermittently on 28th July 2026 and now up to full capacity, following the successful completion of the annual maintenance programme.

Annual Maintenance Programme Completed

Further to the Company’s announcement of 15 July 2026 regarding the planned annual maintenance shutdown at the Saltfleetby Gas Field, Angus Energy is pleased to confirm that the programme has been successfully completed.

The maintenance shutdown, together with the associated programme of subsurface data acquisition, was completed safely, with no accidents, injuries or harm to the environment.

Production resumed on 28th July 2026 and ramped up to full capacity on August 4th, 2026. As part of the normal post-maintenance recommissioning process, the Company has been progressively returning the facilities to full operating capacity. Current production now exceeding the pre-shut down rates due to a combination of flush production from the shut-ins and more efficient operations post maintenance activity.  

The Company thanks its employees and contractors for the safe and successful execution of the programme.

Good news from Angus here, the annual maintenance shutdown has been completed satisfactorily without any problems but perhaps more importantly, production has been ramped up to full capacity and crucially, due to flush production and more efficient operations post the maintenance, current output exceeds pre-shutdown rates. 

Current domestic natural gas prices are high and so Angus is looking at strong cash flow from Saltfleetby and with all the restructuring complete the company is now set fair for good realisations and a stronger balance sheet than has been the case for some time. 

Afentra

Afentra yesterday announced the resignation of Chief Financial Officer, Anastasia Deulina.

Anastasia Deulina has, for personal reasons, formally tendered her resignation as Chief Financial Officer and as a Director of the Company. Ms Deulina’s resignation will take effect on 3 February 2027. Anastasia will remain fully engaged in her role as Chief Financial Officer and as a member of the Board until that date and will support an orderly handover.

The Board will commence a process to identify and appoint her successor and will provide an update in due course.

Thierry Tanoh, Chair of Afentra, commented:

“On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Anastasia for her significant contribution to Afentra. Having joined at the outset, she has played an important role in establishing the Company and supporting its development into the business it is today. Afentra is well positioned financially to continue delivering its strategy. We are grateful that Anastasia will remain fully engaged to support an orderly handover, and we wish her every success for the future.”

Anastasia Deulina commented:

“It has been a privilege to be part of Afentra’s journey and to help build the Company into the business it is today. Seeing what we have achieved over the past five years has been extremely rewarding, and I am grateful to have worked alongside such a committed team. I remain fully focused on my responsibilities and on supporting an orderly transition.”

Stand back there’s nothing to see here, at least no problem and Afentra should be applauded for making sure that the succession process is orderly and that shareholders are fully appraised of the situation.

With Anastasia not leaving until next year the company has plenty of time to find a replacement and whilst her shoes will be hard to fill, as she has done an excellent job at Afentra, she is moving on. The team at the company are tight-knit and with the time available will have a stable management unit for the next phase of growth. 

In the update on the Bucket List last week Afentra strongly retained its long held position as a much favoured sector play, in fact I reiterated my positive view with an increase in my target price to 125p.

Although I am not making any call on the imminent drilling programme results, I do think that there is so much potential upside from its outstanding portfolio that I can confidently suggest that Afentra with its 22% gain over 6 months and 23% year on year could easily be amongst the best of a fine list of stocks.