As Joe Biden starts his reign by signing executive orders that for oil mean that the XL pipeline disappears and also that there is a moratorium in Alaska as expected. Meantime life goes on and Serica are making the most of it, also Trinity update on the 4th quarter.
Oil remains steady after a positive set of inventory stats yesterday. Today the first major winter storms have hit the North East of the US with three feet of snow in places. I have upgraded my 2021 oil price forecasts in line with the bucket list yesterday, I'm now at $55. Hunting have a trading update today, everything is in line with expectations. Cairn has announced a 32p special divvi and Echo have secured a new contract in Argentina. Far has received a potential 2.1c bid from Remus who appeared on the Petrotal shareholder list this week. Trinity has signed an MOU with the Trinidad & Tobago NGC and I report on yesterday's PFC statement. Finally I interviewed Brian Durrant of Unite Oil & Gas yesterday.
Oil is now drifting after a hitherto strong week. Virus numbers are continuing to rise which trumps the US election result. I have interviewed Andrew Hockey, CEO of IOG and give the link, also I look at Gulf Marine Services where trading remains strong but the menace of Seafox lives on.
Back down again today as world markets dive on the increased virus numbers. I link to the JOG story of Buchan video which is very much worth watching, meanwhile I follow up on a meeting with Alan Linn, CEO of Providence Resources. Finally I cover the Trinity update where they continue to produce well from existing well stock.
Oil continues to strengthen against most commentators expectations. A gradual rise like this is better than sudden movements although with WTI at $43.34 and Brent at $46.07 is probably enough absent substantial demand rises. GMS are worth a look as whilst they lost their vote yesterday but are in a strong position with little downside. Pharos have extended TGT and confirmed their RBL situation. United Oil & Gas have taken over the 80% interest in Jamaica that Tullow had to discard after recent financial embarrassment and Trinity Exploration comment on potential tax changes post the upcoming General Election in Trinidad.
The Opec+ JMMC provided about what the market had expected, at least there were no major disappointments in the announcement. Reabold has made an unsolicited 'non-binding' sort of offer for Deltic worth 8p and valuing them at £12.34m which looks kind of cheap for everything Graham Swindells has done to set up the company with the Shell farm-out. Echo are restructuring in Argentina pushing out costs for Tapi Aike in return for an option to get back in. And Trinity are still modestly increasing production which is an achievement given their modest spend and cost control.
Oil rose on Friday after the Opec committee meetings reported both good quota adherence and a rise in demand. Today I catch up with announcements from Genel and AGM statements from GKP and Trinity.
Oil, or more specifically WTI is weak, down another 25% today ahead of rollover to the June contract as even at Cushing the storage tanks are almost full. Angus Energy issues a note today, good under the current circumstances, better when you are writing Riverfort out of your balance sheet. Coro's results were no surprise, recent changes mean that it may be a while before it expands much but Duyung is still a fantastic asset. Trinity continues to cut costs, after this latest bout operating break-even should fall to $20.50/b and Lamprell who announced last week are retrenching into the Hamriyah yard.
It's Bucket List time and the February update is out today, cue trauma.....
Oil has rallied for a number of reasons but Libya is getting pretty lively. Trinity have, as usual a very positive update across the board while Echo also seems to be becoming interesting at the Santa Cruz Sur. Far has gone ahead with its FID for Senegal and is now sorting out the financing which seems nearly all done. President has tapped Trafigura who are injecting money into this well run company and Lamprell confirms the two jackup orders. Finally Touchstone testing an oil play now have a 'liquids rich' structure.