Stocks - specifically the liquid energy sector

Yes .... it is going to be a long slog

...and further to that announcement..

"$14.7/boe operating cost, 11% down on the prior period; full year capex guidance reduced from $350 million to $325 million"

So that is encouraging. There should be some positive movement when 'Catcher' comes online this year.

On another front, I missed this one .... well they were sitting at 1p for most of May/June
http://www.londonstockexchange.com/e.../13279324.html

UK Oil & Gas own 100% of some licenses for parts of West Sussex. Some test drilling has produced very positive results. The not-too-optimistic guessimate for Oil-in-place owned by UKOG is 17.1 billion barrels. I did a thumbnail calculation on de-rated numbers and oil at $40bbl, which gave $78 per share (that's ~£59 today).

To be fair, the discovery of more than 3bn barrels at their BB1 site is quite recent. The latest test drilling shows that the oil-seam is considerably thicker than first thought, approximately 1100-feet.

Further to previous info on UKOG......
http://www.londonstockexchange.com/e.../13313930.html

Highlights

· All flow test regulatory permissions now in place following review by the Health and Safety Executive ("HSE"). Work continues to "complete" the well as a potential oil producer to be followed by a rig-less flow-test, encompassing multiple Kimmeridge zones over a total aggregate perforated section of 926 ft.
· Preliminary log interpretations indicate that the extensively naturally-fractured Kimmeridge section is oil bearing from around 3,800 ft to below 5,640 ft measured depth ("MD") a vertical section of around 1,330 ft. This observation is in accord with the mobile light oil recovered to surface in cores and recovered from drilling fluid, together with wet gas shows.
· An application to extend the exploration/testing phase for a further year to 15 September 2018 has been submitted to West Sussex County Council ("WSCC") with a decision expected in September 2017.

The death-knell is sounding for oil usage in heavy transportation.

This might be first production oil from the Falklands region.
Snipped from a stock market note issued by Rockhopper

"Sea Lion Phase 1 estimated capex to first oil reduced from US$1.8 billion to US$1.5 billion and life of field costs down to US$35 per bbl"

At last, some positive news ... does it count when it comes from the CEO of IGAS?

Wow!

"Venezuela Has Officially Stopped Accepting Dollars For Oil Payments"

https://www.oilandgaspeople.com/news...-oil-payments/

RockHopper sees oil around $70 in 2022....

"After reducing our long-term oil price to $70/bbl in 2022 (previously c $80/bbl) and a number of other adjustments, our (risked) core NAV falls to 44p/share, which assumes just a 20% chance of success - this would rise to 81p/share if risking for Phase 1 is increased to 50% (and Phase 2 to 25%). While the timing and ability to fund the development are still uncertain, our analysis indicates that there should be material long-term value in the assets."

Whilst I consider the journalism of this outfit to be of variable quality and often the style definitely cringe-worthy, there are times when some useful information pops out.....
https://www.aol.co.uk/money/2017/10/...ullow-oil-plc/

"Light is starting to appear at the end of the tunnel for oil producers and explorers. After three years of market turbulence and oversupply, signs are now starting to emerge that the oil industry is returning to normality. Demand is rising, production is falling and inventories are starting to decline"

Oil Floating Storage: This is the first data I have ever seen on floating storage, and I'm surprised at the rate of the draw over the past 9 months.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...e-market-flips
Net draw from beginning of year = about 22 mill barrels.

US Oil Storage, which is what most of the world looks at:
https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/Le...s=WTTSTUS1&f=W
2017-Jan-06... 2,030,421
2017-Sep-29... 1,968,065
(* by thousand barrels)
Net draw from the beginning of the year to now = 62 million barrels.

85 million barrels draw = Net draw from combined floating and US oil storage.
For comparison OPEC reduced output by 1.2 million barrels per day, annualized that is 14.4 million barrels of production they took off the market.
So... 85 million - 14.4 million = 70.6 million extra barrels of draw as a result of something else, probably a lack of investment at low prices.

That's a lot more than I thought. Caveat is these are only two sources, there might be builds unforeseen elsewhere.

Snatched from the latest finals from Premier Oil....

· Opex of US$16.4/boe, maintaining low cost base

Amerisur sells oil to Shell for $60/bbl

"Amerisur made its first complete tanker loading from Esmeraldas on 22 March, loading 350,000 bo aboard M/T Kerala, which was sold to Shell for approximately US$21mm. This revenue has been received by the Company"