Falklands : Hydrocarbons Daily Record (25/01/07)
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 26.01.2007 (Article Archived on 09.02.2007)
Fears that OPEC would cut productioh have been allayed for the third time this month.
HYDROCARBONS DAILY RECORD: THURSDAY, 25 JANUARY 2007
By J. Brock (FINN)
At 1800 LMT on Thursday, 25 January 2007 Light Sweet Crude lost$1.14 Cents to settle at $54.23 on the New York Mercantile Exchange and Brent Crude decreased $1.31 Cents to settle at $54.12 on London’s ICE Futures Market.
TRENDS:
Fears that OPEC would cut production have been allayed for the third time this month. In addition there are forecasts for warmer weather in the United States with a corresponding decrease in demand. Combined with better inventory reports the current trends indicate lower crude prices today.
THE MARKETS:
FTSE 100 closed at 6,269.30 down -45.49
FTSE 250 closed at 11,171.10 down -21.71
FTSE Small Cap closed at 3.960.90 up 5.56
DJI closed at 12,502.56 down -119.21
NASDAQ closed at 2,434.24 down -32.04
S&P500 closed at 1,423.90 down -16.23
WORLD-WIDE DEVELOPMENTS:
(Australia)
Shares in Woodside joint venture partner Global Petroleum Ltd took a tumble by 40 per cent today after a decision not to drill for oil in the remaining viable tenement in Kenya. This comes after a dry hole in Kenya. They were trading at 19.5c at close of trade today, down from a high of 32 cents earlier in the day. According to a Global Petroleum announcement, costs associated with the company's 20 per cent stake in the JV were carried for all activities through drilling in each of these areas. It costs around $120 million to drill a well. The joint venture will make a decision on the next phase of exploration after a thorough technical assessment is made, completed over the next three to six months.
(Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan)
Russian officials from the Natural Resources Ministry, on Thursday, rubbished the idea of oil pipelines across Caspian Sea floor. According to them, any gas or oil pipelines across the floor of the Caspian Sea would be environmentally unacceptable. The republics of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have considered laying natural gas and/or oil pipelines across the bed of the Caspian Sea, thus bypassing Russia. Moscow has been persistent in opposing any plans, citing environmental concerns. Although Russia opposes any pipeline projects across the floor of the Caspian Sea, it has been constructing a natural gas pipeline under the $10.5-billion North European Gas Pipeline (NEGP) project to supply Western Europe with gas via a pipeline leading from Russia to Germany across the floor of the Baltic Sea. Whether the former soviet countries will go ahead with their plans is not yet unclear, as it is thought that they are still being developed.
(Cuba)
Cupet, Cuba's state oil company, and its Venezuelan counterpart PDVSA, have signed agreements to carry out joint hydrocarbons exploration and certification work. The two companies will explore and certify deposits in the Orinoco oil belt in Venezuela as well as offshore Cuba in the Gulf of Mexico. It is expected that the work will focus on the Boyacá Norte block in the Orinoco and blocks N53, N54, N58 and N59 in Cuban waters. According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), estimates of the recoverable reserves from the Orinoco belt range from 100B-270Bb, Analysts report that there could be at least1.6Bb barrels of crude oil reserves in Cuba's offshore basins in the Gulf of Mexico.
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTS:
(Bolivia)
Bolivia’s government is facing a familiar obstacle – opposition. In its program of change, the opposition party Poder Democratico Social (PODEMOS), is pushing an unconstitutional resource against recently approved laws. PODEMOS has presented a request of nullity for the new agrarian reform law and the nationalization of hydrocarbons, both ratified by the country’s Senate. PODEMOS also is opposed to the designation of four judges to the Supreme Court. Bolivia’s socialist government reacted and told PODEMOS that their attitude is "obstructionist, and damaging for the country".
(Falkland Islands)
Relevant Share Prices for Thursday, 25 January 2007:
Tullow Oil unchanged to settle at 405.75
Desire Petroleum down -1.00 at 30.00
FOGL Up 2.50 to 92.50
Rockhopper Exploration unchanged at 38.00
Borders & Southern unchanged at 34.00
|
