Falklands : Hydrocarbons Daily Record (26/09/06)
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 26.09.2006 (Article Archived on 10.10.2006)
Divers have been inspecting the oil rig that is stranded on Tristan da Cunha.
Photo (c) James Glass (Tristan Times) Marine life found on the base of the rig.
HYDROCARBONS DAILY RECORD: TUESDAY, 26 SEPTEMBER 2006
By J. Brock (FINN)
At 1800 LMT Tuesday, 26 September 2006 Light Sweet Crude lost .24 Cents to stand at $61.20 and Brent Crude lost .54 Cents to stand at $60.26.
TRENDS
High US inventories of crude and gasoline have lead to a decline in Brent and Light Sweet crude today. Depending on how cold the Northern Hemisphere winter is, the demand for heating fuel should be another price indicator.
THE MARKETS
FTSE
At the close of play today, the FTSE 100 was up 75.29 points to settle 5,873.60 and the FTSE 250 gained 89.06 points to end at 9,844.90. FTSE Small Cap closed up 9.29 points to settle at 3,495.90.
DOW JONES AND NASDAQ
Good economic indicators helped Wall Street to gain many points today.
At the end of play today the Dow Jones Index gained 93.58 points or 0.81% to settle at 11,669.39 and the NASDAQ closed up 12.27 or 0.55% to settle at 2,261.34.
DEVELOPMENTS
(Tristan da Cunha)
25th Sep 2006: Latest on the Rig “A Turtle” ex PXXI aground off Tristan da Cunha
Since the Tug Zouros Hellas departed Tristan on Saturday the 29th July without being able to remove the rig, the Tristanians have been waiting anxiously to see what was to become of it.
Arriving on the South African research ship SA Agulhas were Marine Biologist/ Photographer Sue Scott from Scotland and Geoff Fridjhon from South Africa (SS & GF) to do an Environmental Assessment. However due to bad weather conditions they have not been able to do much surveying at the rig because of heavy swells breaking in the harbour and around the island
Conditions have been marginal for diving at the rig, with a viority of swell and poor visibility. Since the tug departed the island the rig has tilted slightly to seaward, which wasn’t obvious, when they departed.
Two dives have taken place on the 21 and 22nd September, on the first dive SS & GF dived, without underwater cameras as it was considered likely that they would be damaged, due to the heavy swell and poor visibility. Although the dive ended after only ten minutes, it was useful as considerable marine growth was seen on the legs of the rig.
The next day the weather had moderated and SS & GF dive again,
Conditions were better than the previous day with fewer swells although occasionally a large one would sweep the dives off the rig. The dive lasted approximately an hour, which included a collecting of specimens and taking photos.
The outcome was, there appeared to be more growing on the legs than originally thought, the legs were coated with large quantities of dead coral, barnacle and oyster shells, while the horizontal sections had less coral but more oyster and other bivalve shells, a few small hard corals, a few large mussels, large dark red anemones etc, some which at depth were alive, and are non-native to Tristan.
A collection of specimens was made and will be process in the coming days. Today the 25th September the weather turned terrible and looks like it could be a number of days before it will be possible to do anymore survey work at the rig.
Sarah Glass
DEVELOPING REGIONAL FACTORS
(Brazil and Bolivia)
On Tuesday Brazil and Bolivia continued technical talks about the way forward now that Bolivia has nationalised its hydrocarbons industry. This is in preparation for a ministerial visit to Bolivia by the Brazilian Energy Minister, Silas Rondeau in October. Hopefully the negotiations and Ministerial visit will culminate in the signing of new contracts for Brazil’s Petrobras for shares and operations in two refineries in Bolivia as well as a negotiated price for Bolivian Gas. Recently Bolivia raised the price significantly. Brazil wants to keep a market value price while Bolivia wants to base prices on international values. Bolivia’s new Energy Minister, Carlos Villegas is optimistic for success.
(Bolivia and Argentina)
Investment in Bolivia’s gas sector is expected to fall to between $60 million to $80 million this year, down from around $200 million last year. This year's expenditure will likely be only "maintenance" spending to keep current gas production flowing, according to data from the group, which monitors energy investment in the country. Bolivia already faces a decline in gas supply to cover its domestic and export markets. Bolivia will cut gas supply to Argentina to as little as 1 to 1.5 million cubic meters/day from an earlier 5 million cu m/d, as Brazil has begun to purchase at least 30 million cu m/d from Bolivia so it can fuel its gas-fired electricity plants
(Falkland Islands)
It is felt that people are shedding their Falklands-based exploration stocks prematurely and that when a rig is found for the North Falkland Basin there will be a scramble for them.
Share prices at the close of play on Tuesday, 26 September 2006
Desire Petroleum Plc ended up 1.50 points or 4.41% on the day to settle at 35.50.
Falkland Oil and Gas Limited (FOGL) were down 7.50 or 7.14% on the day to stand at 97.50.
Rockhopper Exploration ended down 20.00 points or 4.65% on the day to settle at 41.00.
Borders & Southern ended down 1.50 or 3.49% on the day to stand at 41.50
Tullow Oil ended down 1.25 points or 0.36% to stand at 349.25
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