Falklands : Hydrocarbons Daily Record (29/06/06)
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 30.06.2006 (Article Archived on 14.07.2006)
More Falklands related hydrocarbons news available.
HYDROCARBONS DAILY RECORD: THURSDAY, 29 JUNE 2006
By J. Brock (FINN)
At 1800 LMT Thursday, 29 June 2006 Light Sweet Crude gained $1.35 and settled at $73.52 on the New York Mercantile Exchange and Brent Crude added $1.47 to $72.88 per barrel on London’s ICE Futures Exchange.
TRENDS:
Tighter supplies of gasoline as the summer drive season begins in the United States contributed to the crude price rise. Nervousness for US investors was apparent when a BBC interview with UN Secretary General Cofe Annan indicated that the only viable solution to the Iran problem was a negotiated one. He urged Iran to work with the IAEA to prove its nuclear fuel enrichment was for peaceful means. The escalation of violence in Gaza and rhetoric from the Taliban has also contributed to the price rise today. It is well known that an all out war in the region could put a $100.00 plus price tag on the per barrel price of crude oil.
THE MARKETS
FTSE:
At the close of play, the FTSE100 was 112.9 points better at 5,791.5 with the FTSE250 up 106.3 points at 9,303.5 and the FTSE Small caps ahead 22.4 points at 3,347.9. Volume was soft with only 2.5 billion shares changing hands in 338,282 deals.
DOW JONES AND NASDAQ:
With important economic indicators and the interest rate rise announced today the Dow Jones and NASDAQ climbed sharply today. The GDP for the first quarter 2006 was 5.6%. The announcement from the Federal Reserve Bank was open-ended, meaning that the interest rate could rise to curb inflation but the “fix” was sufficient to slow it for now and the treasury yield could top out at 5.25%.
The Dow Jones Index closed up 1.96% and settled at 11,190.80 and the NASDAQ settled up 2.96% at 2,173.75.
DEVELOPING FACTORS
(United States)
Ford Motor Company has announced that it will not declare bankruptcy but will stop producing hybrid cars. It will focus development money on vehicles that use alternative fuels.
(Middle East)
According to the Financial Times, Arab Gulf governments have more than tripled their investment in domestic infrastructure projects, launched by USD 70 a barrel and by a desire to diversify their economies away from hydrocarbons. The investments point to growing confidence in Arab oil producers that crude prices will remain high for years, the Financial Times said. Middle East Economic Digest, which tracks projects in the region, says current or planned investments exceeded USD 1,000 billion last April, up from USD 277 billion 18 months before.
(Argentina/Bolivia)
According to the Latin American Press, Argentine President Kirchner met Bolivian President Evo Morales with a bear hug on Thursday and agreed to a 47 percent increase for the Bolivian natural gas Argentina needs for South America's second-largest economy. The accord means Argentina's price will rise from US$3.38 to about US$5 (euro3.98) per million British thermal units. President Kirchner also announced a joint pledge to move forward with ambitious plans for a natural gas pipeline linking Bolivia's southern gas-fields with northern Argentina. The pipeline and price increases have been the subject of negotiations, which had slowed after Morales' abrupt state takeover of Bolivia's energy sector on May 1st.
(Falkland Islands)
http://oilbarrel.com/home.html
…”When talking of Global and farm-in deals however, most investors’ minds stray to the other end of the globe: namely to the southern Atlantic and the waters surrounding the Falkland Islands. Global has a 14 per cent shareholding in Falklands Oil and Gas Limited (FOGL), which has rights to 79,000 sq km of exploration acreage in the untested waters to the south and east of the islands.
FOGL has conducted extensive seismic over the blocks and mapped around 100 prospects, with a potential resource that can be measured in the billions, rather than millions, of barrels. Sixteen of the 100 prospects alone account for half of the potential reserve, of which nine are in excess of 1 billion barrels with the two largest adding up to a possible 5 billion barrels each. The smallest prospect size is 420 million barrels.
“Because of the stacked nature of some of the targets, it is possible for several of the targets to be tested with a single exploration well,” says Fahy in an Equity Development report. “This will probably determine the location of the first wells, which may not be in the very largest prospects.”
Yet to fund exploration drilling in this remote, challenging environment, FOGL must find farm-in partners. This process is dragging its heels because the notoriously risk averse oil majors that have visited - and revisited - FOGL’s data room tend to take their time to digest the data and make decisions
MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE TRADE AND INDUSTRY COMMITTEE UK DEPENDENCE ON GAS IMPORTS
Tuesday 20 June 2006
Evidence heard in Public Questions 107 – 220
…Q173 Mr Hoyle: You mentioned on Dr Berry's earlier question about which countries could supply and that there is a lot of gas and oil out there. I just wonder how far Centrica look for new licences; British Overseas Territories such as the Falklands have huge oil and gas reserves, are Centrica getting involved there?
Mr Ulrich: We have not looked at that one yet and I do not know whether the gas reserves are sufficient for an LNG project or not but it is clearly something that, if they were there, we would look at, yes.
Q174 Mr Hoyle: Obviously, being an overseas territory it is a lot easier to access security of supply and there are good reasons why it should be looked at, so it something that you will bear in mind.
Mr Ulrich: Yes.
Mr Hoyle: Thank you, Chairman
Falklands Oil Stocks End of Day Price for the 29.06.06
Desire Petroleum up 0.75 or 2.4% on the day to stand at 32p
Falklands Oil and Gas unchanged on the day to stand at £110.50.p
Rockhopper Exploration up 0.75 or 2.4% on the day to stand at 31.5p
Border and Southern unchanged on the day to stand at 44p
|
