The Oil Man: Cape, President, Genel, Independent
27th May 2016 13:27
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WTI $49.98 -8c, Brent $49.59 -15c, Diff -$0.11 -7c, NG $1.96 -3c
It's a big weekend in a lot of ways, but no greater than in the US, where it is Memorial Day on Monday - which of course signals the start of the driving season and my chance to wheel out a few stats.
Over the weekend, the American Automobile Association predicts that more than 34 million Americans will travel at least 50 miles, 2.1% up from last year and the best year since 2005. I should remind you that this year, annual mileage is running at 3.16 trillion miles - or 263 billion miles a month.
Next week sees the OPEC meeting and the likelihood is that everything will remain the same - although, as ever, the occasional "curved ball" may be thrown.
I see very little chance of the Saudis changing policy, particularly with $50 oil and outages all over the place, not to mention domestic demand picking up as we go into the summer.
As for Iran, they will remind OPEC of its commitment to allowing it to go back up to previous export levels, still somewhat higher than current output. The only way of contriving a settlement seen to be positive could be if Iran is already producing flat-out, then it could make a political gesture of some sort.
Cape
has announced a Gulf region Master Service Agreement award from GE on a one year basis renewable annually.
The contract covers 64 power facilities in the United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Saudia Arabia,Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Iraq.
For Cape it is its first multi-country, multi-discipline award in the region and covers access and insulation initially, hopefully followed by further disciplines in the future.
President Energy
has announced an Argentina drilling update wherein it says its Puerto Guardian concession production is running at over 500 barrels of oil equivalent per day - twice last year's amount.
Three more wells are planned by the end of July, which should be on stream in the second half of this year. Peter Levine's IYA Global continues to provide the funding. I wasn't on the recent analysts' visit to Argentina, but remain positive on President.
Sundry
has announced that some payments from the Kurdistan Regional Government have been received for April, but I, for one, am not finding it easy to tell if payments are being made in full; certainly it looks like the backlog of debt is building again…
And has announced results - but for them the key this year will be drilling the appraisal well on Skipper, which by creative funding has enabled the company to have a 100% Working Interest.
And finally…
After a bit of a paucity of sport in recent days, this weekend provides a massive Bank Holiday blockbuster catering for all tastes.
In Paris, Muzza plays Karlovic in the French Open and, after a stuttering start with two five-setters, nothing can be taken for granted.
At Chester-le-Street, England take on Sri Lanka in the second test match of the summer; as I write England have won the toss and - rather surprisingly - elected to bat.
Before we head to the Euros, it is the last weekend of league footy in Europe: all the playoffs for promotion, the Champions League final tomorrow between Real Madrid and Athletico, England playing Australia in a friendly up at Sunderland - and Mourinho signing a three-year contract with the Red Devils…
Formula One has its showpiece event in Monaco; my invite must have been lost in the post, Lewis has a very poor record here, whereas Rosberg's is good.
Team McLaren has said that it will be Jenson's last season, as they intend to sign their own test driver Stoffel Vandoorne next year.
Rugby has the Premiership final, with Sarries taking on the Chiefs tomorrow, and on Sunday England play Wales in a pre-tour of Australia friendly (if ever there was such a thing between these sides).
The summer of golf is underway and the BMW PGA Championship title is up for grabs; Danny Willett leads the way overnight.
Finally, I'd encourage everyone to support RAFT's charity gala dinner in The Mansion House on 1 November, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the London Fire Brigade.
An ideal event to take a table at in order to banish those winter blues, especially given their links with the oil and gas sector and the work they do helping burns victims.
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