The Oil Man: Frontera, Falcon, SDX Energy

WTI $44.19 -56c, Brent $45.69 -51c, Diff $1.50 +5c, NG $2.78 +9c

With another dip on Friday, the oil price registered falls on the week of $1.76 for WTI and $1.92 for Brent; no doubt that the gasoline stock situation was mainly to blame.

There was upside pressure as well - a strike by Wood Group workers on eight Shell platforms in the North Sea on Thursday has yet to be taken into account and in Nigeria and Libya production is down.

With the Energy Information Administration still forecasting domestic production in the US falling substantially in this half-year, the rig count indicated that some activity remains positive: overall the count was up 15 units at 462 and in oil was up 14 at 371.

SDX Energy

SDX has announced that it has completed the second tranche of the private placement, issuing 3.9 million shares at 18p. SDX looks like an interesting play and I am looking forward to interviewing Paul Welch next week.

For those who haven't yet taken a look at SDX, it is well worth a glance; it has no debt and is cash flow-positive, with 1,511 barrels of oil equivalent per day and 2P reserves of 7.34 million barrels of oil equivalent. Primarily focused on Egypt and with plenty of exploration upside, the company seems well placed to grow.

Falcon Oil & Gas

News from Falcon this morning: the Amungee NW-1H well has completed the horizontal section and has cased and cemented it in preparation for fraccing in mid-August. The rig has now spudded the Beetaloo W-1 well, which will take 35-50 days before results are known.

FOG shares have fallen quite sharply from the April highs of 9p, as investors worry about the effect on the company of imminent elections in the Northern Territories. I am hoping for an update from Philip O'Quigley before too long as clarification would be helpful.

Sundry

For a long time now I have, on the will of blog readers, been trying to meet with the management of Frontera Resources.

They have refused all offers of meetings, either directly or via their London-based investor relations advisors, and the shares are down from 0.71p to 0.10p in the process.

Today's news makes me thankful that a meeting never happened; however exciting the acreage might be, markets rarely tolerate companies trying to avoid the repayment of debt like this. There, by the grace of god...

And finally…

Congratulations to Johanna Konta, who beat Venus at the weekend to win her first Women's Tennis Association title.

After a shambles of a qualifying session that allowed Nico to get pole by not slowing under double yellows, Lewis had him at the first corner and won a boring race comfortably.

The cricket continues, as Captain Cook defied logic and decided to bat on and not enforce the follow on - for what reason is anyone's guess, but it will likely better his own average…

And the International Olympic Committee was totally spineless as they ducked the issue regarding drugs and handed a slap in the face to clean athletes, whether residing in or out of Russia…

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.