The Oil Man: Shell, Kosmos, Victoria

WTI $32.50 +85c, Brent $33.10 +$1.30, Diff -80c -45c, NG $2.19 +1c

The market remains full of chatter about an OPEC/non-OPEC meeting to discuss production cuts, but is acutely aware that expectations should not be raised too much.

The Energy Information Administration stats showed a build of 8.4 million barrels, against forecasts of 4.3 million. A high number was expected after the American Petroleum Institute numbers; indeed, this number was not as bad as feared and, again, stocks drew at Cushing.

The Federal Open Market Committee was a right laugh - to think that this lot are left in charge of more than a whelk stall. Nevertheless, beggars must not be choosers, and now that rates are not - repeat, not - likely to run away, the greenback may stall, at least until next month's meeting, by which time all bets will be off again.

Shell

83% in favour of the BG bid was more than expected and, with today's turn of the latter's shareholders, there should be completion on 15 February. The deal gives Shell scale, with Brazil, the Queensland Curtis liquefied natural gas project and the LNG business being ultimately bigger and at a much lower cost.

The combined beast will be a lean, mean, but scaled super-major, unrecognisable from even the recent past. All this and nearly a 10% yield into the bargain makes me think that there is a price for everything.

Kosmos

Kosmos has made a "significant gas discovery" offshore Senegal with its Guembeul-1 well, some 5 kilometres South of Tortue-1.

101 metres of pay in two excellent reservoirs, with continuity into Tortue under static pressure, means that resource estimates have gone up sharply. The P mean - proven oil - of this find has gone up from 8 trillion cubic feet (tcf) to 11tcf and, in the Greater Tortue Complex, the number rises from 14 to 17tcf.

By any means, this is another great discovery and the company has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Senegal and Mauritanian governments to move ahead to early field development.

Victoria Oil & Gas

Hot on the heels of its trading update, Victoria has announced a 2016 operations outlook. The target for 2016 production is 3.7 billion cubic feet (bcf) which would be a 30% increase on last year. Most gas is contracted at $9-16 per million british thermal units (mmbtu) and the company points that out, as no oil is explored or produced as a primary product.

Indeed, the company is keen to "enhance the market valuation" by ensuring that it is seen as a gas utility in a fast-growing market full of growth from a number of quarters.

With two exploration wells, new products such as compressed natural gas and a continued war on costs, I tend to agree that the market has got this one wrong - which means, I guess, that Mr Hart or someone similar should bid for VOG, which has a market cap of only £33 million.

Sundry

Independent Oil & Gas has announced that the British Oil and Gas Authority has extended its Skipper licence to December 2016, which is a bit handy, as the company only recently announced that it had pushed the well on the licence back until "later this year".

And finally…

So, the Clueless Cup final will be between the HubCap Stealers and the Noisy Neighbours, who beat the Toffees last night.

At the tennis, Johanna Konta finally went out this morning, but next week will be ranked 28th in the world. Muzza plays tomorrow, knowing that brother Jamie is in the doubles final.

And many thanks to Robert Speed (Speedy to old city lags) and the KREAB team, who very kindly invited me to their table at the growth companies awards dinner last night. A few friends were seen and a few blog readers wandered over for a chat - great fun.

This article is for information and discussion purposes only and does not form a recommendation to invest or otherwise. The value of an investment may fall. The investments referred to in this article may not be suitable for all investors, and if in doubt, an investor should seek advice from a qualified investment adviser.