Oil prices steadied towards the end of September with the news of potentially easing tensions in the trade war between the US and China. This is despite the pressure that came onto levels by Saudi Arabia’s efforts to restore supply to the market quickly after the attacks on its refineries earlier this month. Brent Crude futures were down 12 cents or 0.2% at $62.27 (as of September 26th 2019). (Source: Reuters)
The Agencia Nacional do Petroleo, Gas Natural e Biocombustiveis (ANPG) held its roadshow in London during September. The agency aim was to drive up investment in the country after carrying out aggressive reforms of the oil sector improving the fiscal attractiveness of the country. Angola has 10 blocks on offer in the Congo and Kwanza basins. (source: Energy Voice)
Tullow Oil has discovered further oil deposits off the coast of Guyana after drilling to a total depth of 2,175 metres they located 14 metres of net oil pay in high quality oil bearing sandstone. (Source: stockmarketwire.com)
Multi national Siemens intends to spin off its energy division and re list it in September 2020. The Energy part of the conglomerate has dragged on the engineering firms recent performance. The new energy firm will include Siemens oil and gas business which is in discussion with a number of players in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain. (Source: Yahoo Finance)
UKOG have completed the acquisition of an additional stake in the Horse Hill oil field near Gatwick. The deal came through the purchase of Magellan Petroleum for £12 million. UKOG have taken their stake up to 85.6% of the asset enabling them to secure the lions share of future production revenue. The funding for the purchase was secured through a number of instruments. (Source: Stockmarketwire.com)
Oil prices were steady during most of September the only anomaly was mid-month after the attack on output in Saudi Arabia, briefly pushing prices up as high as high as $62.9 before falling back after the Saudi regime confirmed output would be restored to normal outputs within weeks. With continued uncertainty in the Middle East and rising tensions with Iran it will be interesting to see if oil prices can remain stable towards the end of the year or whether geopolitical concerns have a negative or positive impact on prices.
Oil prices (September 30h 2019):
Brent: $60.78
WTI: $54.07
