Falklands : Hydrocarbons Daily Record (31/01/07)
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 01.02.2007 (Article Archived on 15.02.2007)
Saudi Arabia has announced that the 158,000 barrel per day cut in production is in keeping with the planned production cut that OPEC announced late last year. It is not in addition to the amount to be cut.
HYDROCARBONS DAILY RECORD: WEDNESDAY, 31 JANUARY 2007
By J. Brock (FINN)
At 1800 LMT on Wednesday, 31 January 2007 Light Sweet Crude gained $1.17 Cents to settle at $58.14 on the New York Mercantile Exchange and Brent Crude increased $1.01 Cents to settle at $57.40 on London’s ICE Futures Market.
TRENDS:
Factors helping to increase the price of crude today include cold weather in the US and the corresponding demand on inventories. Those inventories now stand at 324.9Million barrels, up 2.7Million barrels. The main factor is the planned OPEC cut of 500,000 barrels per day. Recent speculation about additional production cuts on the day did not pan out. Saudi Arabia’s share of the production cuts are in line with the decision and not in addition to the 500,000 barrels per day.
THE MARKETS:
FTSE 100 closed at 6,242.00 down -38.86
FTSE 250 closed at 11,100.30 down -30.68
FTSE Small Cap closed at 3.947.40 down -2.97
DJI closed at 12,621.69 up +98.38
NASDAQ closed at 2,463,93 up +15.29
S&P500 closed at 1,438.24 up +9.42
WORLD-WIDE DEVELOPMENTS:
(Saudi Arabia)
The announcement by OPEC that it would cut 500,000 bpd off production on 01 February stands but what hasn’t been made clear in the past two days is whether or not Saudi Arabia would add an additional 158,000 barrels per day on top of that. Things are clearer now with the 158,000 barrels per day being Saudi Arabia’s share of the total amount to be cut and not in addition to the amount announced.
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTS:
(Bolivia and Argentina)
Bolivia’s state hydrocarbons company, YPFB, announced on Wednesday that a crack in a distribution pipe has stopped most of its natural gas deliveries to Argentina. Heavy rain inundating the pumping station in San Jose de Pocitos, 1,100 kilometres south of the capital La Paz, caused the pipe to malfunction over the weekend. Technicians are working to repair the crack after turning off the flow. About 4 million cubic metres of natural gas deliveries, out of a daily export to Argentina of 7.7 million cubic metres were affected.
(Falkland Islands)
BORDERS AND SOUTHERN WORKING TO PROGRAMME
By J. Brock (FINN)
Howard Obee, Chief Executive and Bruce Farrer, Business Development Manager of Borders and Southern plc have been visiting the Falklands in order to update officials about progress achieved since last year’s visit.
Borders and Southern has just under 20,000 sq km acreage in up to 3,000 M of water to the south of the Falklands. The water depths are deeper than those operated by FOGL, said to be 1,500 to 2,000 M deep. The acreage was chosen because it is in a fold belt – the tail end of the Andes – and the geology is considered to be right to generate hydrocarbons.
Borders & Southern, after 2D seismic, acquired in 2,862km have identified their own leads but are in a similar position as FOGL in that the company is not yet ready to begin exploration drilling because, unlike Desire Petroleum in the North Falkland Basin, there is still a lot of work to do.
Water depth is the deciding factor here with a drill ship being the best option. Though semi submersible rigs can be adapted, Borders and Southern feel that a rig can reach its limits and a drill ship is suitably adapted to drill in deep water.
In making the decision to go ahead with 3D seismic in the leads and prospects it was decided that 3D would reduce the technical risk and an assessment of the risk will be made by the end of the 1st quarter of 2007.
Howard Obee feels that the best option would be to wait until all of the pre-work is done and get into sync with other exploration companies so that preferably a drill ship can be tasked for the exploration. Depending on market conditions, he estimates the ship would cost $500,000.00 a day.
Relevant Share Prices for Wednesday, 31 January 2007:
Tullow Oil down -7.00 to stand at 398.50
Desire Petroleum up 1.50 at 32.00
FOGL Up 1.00 to stand at 93.50
Rockhopper Exploration down -0.75 to stand at 42.25
Borders & Southern unchanged at 34.00
|
