Falklands : Hydrocarbons Daily Record (27 September 2007)
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 28.09.2007 (Article Archived on 12.10.2007)
You might have the best gasoline in the world but if it is too expensive people won't buy it.
HYDROCARBONS DAILY RECORD: THURSDAY, 27 SEPTEMBER 2007
By J. Brock (FINN)
At 1830hrs LMT on Thursday, 27 September 2007 Light Sweet Crude was trading at $82.88 up $2.58 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent Crude was trading at $80.03 up $2.60 on London’s ICE Futures Market.
ANALYSIS:
Now it is storage capacity causing the price of crude to increase. Apparently the Cushing Storage facility in West Texas is not filled to capacity and is down 209,000 barrels. It won’t take long now before people will get fed up and vote for energy change with their pocketbooks. Already there are trends towards smaller, more energy-efficient vehicles in the United States. With the slow down in the US economy fuelled by declines in the housing market, there will be more people switching to alternative energy as well. You might have the best gasoline going but if people can’t afford to buy it the price will either come down or the product will simply sit in storage at the expense of those who have profited from higher hydrocarbons prices.
THE MARKETS: 27 SEPTEMBER 2007:
FTSE100: 6,486.40 up 53.37, FTSE250: 11,039.50 up 150.22, SmallCap: 3,793.10 up 1.17
DJI: 13,912.94 up 34.79, NASDAQ: 2,709.59 up 10.56 S&P500: 1,531.38 up 5.96
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS:
(South Africa)
The First Annual Africa Bio-fuels Conference & Expo, held in Durban; concluded on Thursday. The focus of the conference was to source and/or create bio-fuels and find a way to store, supply and/or distribute them. The pitfalls have been pointed out by representatives at the conference but it is thought they can be surmounted, providing the proper infrastructure is in place. It was recognised that the right bio-fuels were a good source of clean energy. The EU mandate to use bio-fuels for 10% of its energy usage by 2020 was noted.
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTS:
(Spain and Argentina)
Spanish oil company Repsol YPF SA, is seeking to become less dependent on Latin America and has delayed its plan to sell its Argentine YPF unit until 2008. Technical reasons caused by YPF's bylaws have slowed the process down until then. Repsol aims to keep control of YPF but could sell as much as 25 percent to private investors and 20 percent on the stock exchange.
(Argentina and Venezuela)
Venezuela would like to purchase Exxon Mobil's assets in Argentina. According to Luis Vierma. vice-president of the Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA. Months ago Exxon decided to leave Venezuela due to nationalisation of the Orinoco oil belt. Now the Company is selling all of its assets in Argentina and plans to quit operations in other South American countries. Exxon Mobil's operation in Argentina is estimated to be USD 200 million.
LOCAL DEVELOPMENTS:
Though press speculation is ripe about tensions caused by a reported British plan to submit a proposal to the United Nations claiming thousands of extra square miles of seabed around the Falkland Islands, there is a hitch. The seabed is disputed and the sovereignty issue over it could be left unattended while political wrangling is resolved. Presumably, if the bid goes ahead to the UN, the 350 miles would apply to the east, north, and south of the Falklands, as Argentina’s 350 miles overlaps the Falklands’ 350 miles to the west of the Islands.
At the moment proving that seabed up to 350 miles from the coast is part of the Falklands, while contentious, will take a back seat to the Oil Operator’s meeting that takes place in the Falklands next week.
RELEVANT SHARE PRICES 27 SEPTEMBER 2007:
TLW: 585.00 down 11.50, DES: 27.50 down 1.00, FOGL: 147.50 up 10.00, RKH: 50.50 unchanged, BOR: 38.00 down 0.50, PRE: 13.75 down 0.25, GBP: 8.63 unchanged, GPK: 420.00 unchanged.
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