The Oil Man: Amerisur, President, Echo/Rockhopper
12th June 2017 10:32
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WTI $45.83 +19c, Brent $48.15 +29c, Diff -$2.32 +10c, NG $3.04 +1c
A poor week for oil as well-documented supply issues took the best part of 4% off the prices. Friday recovered slightly as Nigeria suffered a pipeline incident and the outage ensured that Shell played hard ball. The rig count grew again, overall the count was up 11 units at 927, in oil it was up 8 at 741. Inventory stats this week, particularly in products, will be the key tomorrow and Thursday.
Amerisur Resources
May production data from this morning and the number was down slightly - average production was 4,792 barrels per day with a peak of 5,173 barrels per day, and the OBA took 4,266 barrels per day with a peak of 5,017 barrels per day. This was due to 'expected and unexpected' maintenance at the RODA system in Ecuador, which is par for the course and the pipeline is now back up and running.
Investors here know that production in Colombia is always a bit of a moving target, although I am very confident that the longer term trend is firmly upwards, especially after the recent drilling news at Mariposa-1.
President Energy
has provided a Paraguay update this morning which is most encouraging. It has appointed ENVOI to support its farm-out work in the country and gives updated management expectations of prospective resources. New numbers are 3 billion barrels with 10 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas and 300 million barrels of 'drill ready' oil resources in the extension of the light oil play only 30-70 km away in Argentina.
This means that, according to chairman Peter Levine, "this reinforces the size of the on shore prize here" and gives hope where there might have been little after the last Paraguay well, so further positive news from PPC.
Echo Energy/Rockhopper
It has been announced that Fiona MacAulay, currently COO at , is joining as CEO in July. This is clearly a great chance for her and one I suspect was too good to turn down, with Echo about to start up a fully funded gas operation in South America where she will be a great asset to the new operation.
In addition, at RKH much of the technical work on Sea Lion has been completed and now it is primarily financial and commercial work left to be done. I know that she leaves a first rate team at RKH who are well placed to complete Sea Lion and continue the good work in the Greater Med area.
Echo has also announced that Julian Bessa has been appointed as exploration VP, he has wide-ranging experience from BG in Bolivia and Brazil which will undoubtedly come in handy.
Sound Energy
has announced that the programme at Sidi Moktar is underway, starting with the re-entry and testing at Koba-1 in the Lower Liassic and potential testing of the Argorian. This should take around 10 days then it's off to Kamar-1 for the second stage of the operation before assessing the situation.
It is worth noting that there is an investor visit to Sidi Moktar later this week. At Badile Sound has reached 4,328m and [target depth] is expected later this month.
Sundry
has announced that it has raised another £1.3 million as the uptake in the recent Open Offer was 88%. Shareholders are wise to do such a thing as, one way or another, things are beginning to take shape primarily in offshore Ireland but also with some excitement upcoming onshore UK.
And has appointed James Menzies as a non-Exec director, a man with much experience in and TAP Oil.
And finally…
In the Catalunya MotoGP, the Ducati mounted Dovizioso showed his mettle with his second win in seven days, easily beating Honda's Marc Marquez and Danny Pedrosa.
The 57 degree track temperature affected grip and prevented both Yamahas of Rossi (8th) and Vinales (10th) from challenging at the front. Britain's Cal Crutchlow was 11th.
In the Isle of Man, Honda's woes continued when they withdrew from the Senior TT before the start. The race was red flagged after two laps when pre-race favourite Ian Hutchinson crashed and broke his femur while contesting the lead with Peter Hickman.
In the restart Michael Dunlop, on the untested new Suzuki, led from the flag to win at an average speed of over 130mph. The tiny British Norton factory achieved a superb 6th and 7th . Whilst waving the flag, a mention is deserved for 72-year-old Tony Baker and his daughter Fiona who achieved 6th place in the Sidecar race at 109mph…Makes you proud !
In Canada, Lewis set a flaming time to be at the front of the grid and led from start to finish to get his season back on track. Behind him it was a great race but not quite what was expected. Vettel changed a nose cone but managed to get almost back to a podium space and Verstappen started with a proper charge then the lights went out.
In the cricket, England had revenge over the Aussies who now go home with the Bangas going through from that group with England. The other group was totally open, but India saw off South Africa, and today Sri Lanka and Pakistan fight for the last spot in the semis.
The World Cup football was played like it was in the holiday camps, but Scotland must have felt that they had won with that second free kick. In addition, Wales and Ireland can still qualify from their group and NI are well placed too. The big result was England winning the World Cup, at Under 20 level to be fair, but a great performance.
The Lions ( and I have been ticked off about how you call them!) had a much better match against The Crusaders and look much better now, finding a place for the skipper might be a problem…
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.