The Oil Man: BP, Hurricane, ConocoPhillips

WTI $48.31 +59c, Brent $49.28 +31c, Diff $0.97 -28c, NG $2.05 +2c

All a bit mixed at the moment in the oil price, but definitely bullish for choice; the situation in Canada appears to be getting worse and, with all the outages elsewhere, it can only take that extra stock off the market.

The inventory stats will be crucial, last night the American Petroleum Institute numbers were mixed, with a draw of 1.1 million in crude - which was ok, if not quite up to most bullish estimates - but stocks still rose by 500/- barrels at Cushing.

The really bullish bit was the product situation: gasoline drew 1.9 million barrels and distillates 2 million, which is a proper lead indicator. With the driving season less than a fortnight away, anything might happen.

Hurricane Energy

Things appear to be going very well at Hurricane since the announcement of the Kerogen investment and Crystal Amber and Marlborough adding to holdings. The general meeting was a success and now the process moves to the drilling campaign, which is expected to start in July.

I have noticed that, after a quiet start when the deal was announced, the shares have recently ticked quite a lot higher - my spies tell me that there was a forced seller in the market who appears to have completed his trade.

HUR remains firmly on the bucket list and is up 86% year-to-date - the next six to eight weeks should be most exciting for all those involved.

ConocoPhillips

Readers will remember that a couple of weeks ago the Financial Times ran a story about ConocoPhillips deciding to exit all of its international exploration operations.

Word around the track is that a "soft sell" strategy has been invoked so that best prices can be achieved by expressions of interest; whether it is the right thing for COP holders I don't know, but just watch out.

Obviously the most pertinent asset, as far as we are concerned, is the Senegal discovery, where COP are in partnership with Cairn and FAR.

Should COP sell their stake in this world-class discovery, which is very close to being declared commercial, then not only will it frank the value to its partners but the buyer may extend its offer to them as well.

Definitely a "watch this space" situation if ever there was one and if ever a signal a bottom in the oil price could be called, it would be something like this…

Sundry

BP have parted company with their COO of Exploration, Richard Herbert, presumably as part of the massive cost saving needed to fund Bo's $20 million (£13.8 million) paycheck.

It leaves a wealth of very senior people and Bernard Looney in charge of the…function worldwide.

And another appointment: popular and multiple non-exec around the oil track David McManus replaces industry veteran - and another Enterprise Oil alumnus - Pierre Jungels as Chairman of Sea Energy.

And finally…

The Premiership season eventually ended last night with the Red Devils beating the Cherries, but not by the 19-goal margin they needed to go past the Noisy Neighbours.

Will LVG be in charge next year? Who knows, but if so it could be turgid; by their standards, 49 goals in a season is unacceptable, despite having the best defensive record in the league.

Tonight is the big night for the HubCap Stealers, in a tiny stadium in Basel where hardly anyone can get in. They should beat Sevilla; I say that as I am told they have already beaten Europe's best, so tonight will be a walk in the park…

Finally, Villa fans will presumably be delighted to know that Randy Lerner has at long last found a buyer for the club. The new owner is a Chinese businessman and has promised to give the new manager plenty of money to buy new players…

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.