Falklands : Hydrocarbons Daily Record (30/08/06)
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 31.08.2006 (Article Archived on 14.09.2006)
Good news for Desire and FOGL as their share prices gain for two straight days.
HYDROCARBONS DAILY RECORD: WEDNESDAY, 30 AUGUST 2006
By J. Brock (FINN)
At 1800 LMT on Wednesday, 30 August 2006 Light Sweet Crude gained .24 Cents to stand at $69.95 and Brent Crude gained .32 Cents to stand at $70.03.
TRENDS
Crude prices increased slightly on the relative calm in the Mid-East as well as tropical depression Ernesto not hitting the Gulf Coast. Though BP has a lot to answer for in its maintenance of infrastructure at Prudhoe Bay, the supply of Alaskan crude won’t be completely turned off during the repairs. Supply of gasoline in the United States is still good. Thursday is crunch day for Iran and its demand to continue enriching nuclear fuel for energy generation and for talks with the UN. Russia and China are against sanctions for Iran.
THE MARKETS
FTSE
Thee FTSE gained today on the back of good financial information from the United States as well as Europe.
At the close of play today, the FTSE 100 was up 41.02 points to settle at 5,929.30 and the FTSE 250 was up 49.70 points to end up at 9,581.50. FTSE Small Cap closed up 11.05 points to settle at 3,428.10.
DOW JONES AND NASDAQ
Even though there are still concerns about inflation, there is good economic news with Google’s Eric Smidt being opted on the board of Google and the VIOX case overturned in favour of the drugs maker.
At the end of play today the Dow Jones Index gained 12.97 points or 0.11% to settle at 11,382.91 and the NASDAQ closed up 113.43 points or 0.62% to settle at 2,185.73.
DEVELOPING REGIONAL FACTORS:
(Bolivia)
Besides coming to terms with the loss of his Energy Minister, Bolivian President Evo Morales has protests to deal with this week. Protesters want a slice of the pie that is not yet cooked, or even mixed together. The failure of the state owned oil Company to achieve funding for 51% of any joint venture for Bolivia also has not worked well for the Bolivian President, who may have not done his homework properly prior to nationalising his country’s natural gas fields on 01 May this year. Companies have until the end of the year to re-negotiate contracts if they want to extract Bolivian natural gas and ship it. Added to this, protesters have shut off the supply of natural gas on one occasion.
(Venezuela)
President Hugo Chavez has visited Syria and received a warm welcome from President Asad. He has signed a pact with Syria to stamp out American imperialism. He has become a poster boy for Arab dislike for the US and Israel. He has also visited China to sign an agreement for infrastructure and ships so that transport of Venezuelan crude can be more efficient. Venezuela wants to decrease its dependence on US markets for crude. President Chavez has also visited Angola and Malaysia during the trip he began on 21 August.
(Falkland Islands)
Good news for Desire with share prices rising for two days FOGL also has performed well this week. Exploration companies are looking for rigs but aren’t saying anything to the press about it. We are fortunate because the results of nationalisation and windfall taxes in South America and Africa will have proved either good for the economy or an experiment gone wrong will be known by the time the Falklands begin extracting hydrocarbons from the North and South Falkland Basins.
Share prices at the close of play on Wednesday, 30 August 2006
Desire Petroleum Plc was up 0.25 points or 0.68% on the day to settle at 37.25.
Falkland Oil and Gas Limited (FOGL) ended up 6.00 or 5.26% on the day to stand at 120.00.
Rockhopper Exploration ended unchanged on the day to settle at 38.00
Borders & Southern ended unchanged on the day at 45.25
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