The Oil Man: Oil price, Tethys, Pantheon, Tullow
8th October 2015 10:29
Share on
WTI $47.81 -72c, Brent $51.33 -59c, Diff $3.52 +13c, NG $2.47 n/c
A slightly quieter day in the oil markets with the EIA inventory stats just taking the edge off the recent rally. Analysts had been expecting a build, even after the API report of a modest draw and so seeing stocks up by 3.1 million barrels was disappointing but not by much. The bullish news around the crude patch has mainly come from the EIA STEO which as I mentioned yesterday is moving towards the IEA stance, and of course the increasingly obvious fall in US shale production. Indeed, speaking in London yesterday, EOG Resources boss Mark Papa went as far as to say that there would be a "pretty dramatic downturn in US shale" as the debt problem really starts to sink in.
Tethys Petroleum
It seems like there is something going on almost every day at and yesterday there were two significant moves. Firstly, Nostrum decided to withdraw their proposed offer which had needed all three major shareholders to agree to, in this case Pope Asset Management didn't so that potential offer went west. One must assume that with the possible backstop of an offer from Olisol the shareholder was able to take such a stance. Not long after all this Tethys then announced that AGR Energy were back on the case with a letter of intent offering a potential equity fund raise at C$0.165 a share and a $5 million loan to support short term liquidity. In addition AGR want the option to subscribe for another $20 million worth of stock at the same price. Pick the bones out of that lot I challenge you…
Sundry
has announced that testing has started at its VOBM#1 well and this should last 10-14 days all being well. Clearly this is an important time for the company and the market is quietly confident of success but it must be borne in mind that whatever this result turns out to be there are other opportunities in the next well which is already drilling.
has announced that it has reached agreement with authorities in Gabon and following that can confirm guidance for production of 66,000-70,000 bopd.
And finally…
Its back to the Euro qualifiers tonight and it will be a nail biting time across the board. Northern Ireland can get through tonight and play bottom of the table Greece to secure a finals place, the ROI take on Germany but dont need to win to still at least get a play-off position. For Scotland the outlook is much more uncertain, they need de minimus a point against Poland, win their next game and have other results go their way just to get a play-off place…
In the NFL, the Ravens beat the Steelers to get their first win of the season while the Jets beat the Dolphins at Wembley. Running back Chris Ivory came in with a career best 166 yards. The Giants overcome the Bills in Buffalo and move to 2-2. The Redskins manage to edge out the Eagles in Washington thanks to a last second touchdown. The unbeaten Bengals continued their brilliant start as they put 36 points on the Chiefs despite Kansas quarterback Alex Smith throwing for 386 yards. The Packers move to 4-0 after beating the hapless 49ers 17-3. Peyton Manning helped maintain the Broncos unbeaten record after they beat the Vikings in Denver. And finally, the only team left in the NFL without a win is the Detroit Lions. They move to 0-4 after losing to the Seahawks.
Malcolm is a Founding Partner of HydroCarbon Capital, which provides independent advisory services to the Oil and Gas sector. He is a Director of the Maven Income and Growth VCT 4 PLC, a venture capital trust listed on the Premium segment of the main market of the London Stock Exchange.