WTI $58.82 -22c, Brent $67.21 +18c, Diff -$8.39 +40c, NG $2.76 +1c
Oil price
Oil is doing a good job of flat-lining right now but today is up around 70 cents as speculators continue to buy oil. The worries yesterday, started in the US bond market were about growth but that is not showing through in one of the flagship indicators, US gasoline prices. With fully two months to go until the driving season starts on Memorial Day drivers in the US are paying $2.62 a gallon which is up some 25% so far this year and it gets worse the further west you go, on the west coast it is $3.14. No, gasoline demand is up and showing no signs whatsoever of coming down any time soon and you can’t blame that on the Saudis…
Amerisur Resources
AMER has announced a drilling update from CPO-5 where the Calao-1X exploration well is dry in the LS3 reservoir, the formation was deeper than prognosis and located in an area without closure. The well could possibly be used for water disposal in the future but for now the next step is a further appraisal well on the Indico structure and it should be noted that this has no impact on current booked CPO-5 reserves.
The company has also announced that a workover has been completed on Platanillo-8 to install a selective completion which enables perforation of the lower U sand which can be produced with existing production from the T sand which is now a combined 820 b/d, very impressive. Next stop is a similar operation on Platanillo-2 followed by Plat-7 and then a new infill well on Plat-26 followed by the re-entry of Plats-22 and 21 to side-track.
Whilst a duster at a wildcat like Calao is disappointing it is not of much significance, I have even just gone back to my recent interview with John Wardle where he describes the location as being a ‘step out’ from Indico in an attempt to define the discovery. There will be likely be at least two appraisal wells and further exploration before the totality of the field is established and the significant upside for AMER remains hardly diminished by this result.
Pantheon Resources
Pantheon announced this yesterday but owing to the LSE news outage and that PANR dont send out e-mails or have any IR/PR it is only just getting out, after a number of people getting in contact I thought I would mention it.
The company has announced that the Alkaid appraisal well on the Alaskan North Slope confirms the oil discovery with 80-100 b/d from a perforated 6 foot interval taken from an impressive 240 feet of pay. The company considers it to be ‘an excellent result’ which would be better had the well been drilled horizontally but in this well that wasn’t possible.
The upside for PANR is difficult to call at this stage not least until further testing takes place but should it work across the rest of the Great Bear prospects then there is indeed significant potential which would make the substantial dilution of the merger easier to bear…
Solo Oil
Following my recent write-up of the new strategy from Solo Oil I notice that they have announced a new corporate presentation, here is the link.
Link
Yesterday I did my Voxmarkets Podcast for which the link is below.
And finally…
England went to Montenegro last night and after a dodgy start came out winners 1-5.
Jos Buttler went to India and got Mankad’d, even in 1947 that would have been out of order…