anyone got any ideas about the block trades that went through today?

website: http://www.sterlingenergyplc.com/



weather: www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at4+shtml/084938.shtml?50wind120

In thsat case you and he did well here.

He has just connected Tullow Oil with African Energy, they are a 20% partner in the Mauritanian Adventure.

Tullow swallowed African Energy a month or so ago.

The stock has not yet reflected that.

As the price is down today, I may have a little nibble.

U.S. stock futures lower as crude prices rise
Tue 6 July, 2004 14:21

(Updates futures, adds new comments)

NEW YORK, July 6 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks futures pointed to a lower opening for Wall Street on Tuesday as investors worried about corporate profits following a jump in crude oil prices.

In addition, chip stocks could be under pressure after Conexant Systems Inc., the third-most active stock on the INET electronic brokerage in early trading, lowered its quarterly earnings forecast.

U.S. light crude rose in the first electronic trading since the weekend sabotage attacks on Iraqi oil pipelines cut exports. Crude prices, at $39.21 in New York, are also being pushed higher amid concerns about possible disruptions to Russian and Nigerian supplies.

Crude oil is a component of almost every sector of the economy, including manufacturing and transport, and higher oil prices immediately erode corporate profits.

"I see the markets starting off down because crude oil is down, Weston Boone, vice president of listed trading at Legg Mason Wood Walker in Baltimore said. "Geopolitical events are weighing on the market, and in addition we are starting earnings season -- so the question is will profits be as rosy in the second quarter?"

S&P 500 futures for the September contract fell to 1119.80, or 4.68 points below fair value.

Dow Jones industrial index futures fell 44 points, while Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 12 points.

"The reason why we are down today is the continued unrest in the Middle East and the prospects that energy prices do not seem to decline," John Person, head financial analyst with Infinity Brokerage Services, said.

"After last week's Fed rate hike, higher oil prices and slower economic indicators such as the jobs number will be the real issues investors are faced with right now," Person added.

Democrat John Kerry's decision to appoint North Carolina Sen. John Edwards as his vice presidential running mate was seen as slightly negative for the market.

"I think its probably positive for Kerry which is therefore probably negative for the market ... Wall Street is traditionally a conservative community," Boone said.

xmortal, what is your view of SEY?

Same as last week, the price is being held back by the profit takers.

May slip back 1/4 today, but the price of oil ha spiked apparently, maybe that will hold it.

I think it has potential and the trend is up, thats the main point. Also its portfolio is excellent. I think SEY perform very well at least to the beginning of its drilling season, and providing that oil price keeps above 38$

In terms of high risk/high reward at the moment I like PCI and HNR. PCI cos is drilling a well supposedly to contain 400m barrels and easy to extract (apparently)plus JV in massive oil deposits of oil in the adriatic sea and some rumors that may be enteringin Mali, Algeria and Libya (massive oil and gas reserves) Then Hradman Resources, they have around 20 wells to be drill plus a JV with RAB capital and Falkand Islands Holding in the Falkland Island.

SEY is equally good. If I had moeny. i'd place a punt.

nice to hear....i think once drilling starts these will be 20+

big volume day, with size buyers at the close. v good to see

Here we go again.

Oil futures hit one month highs
AFX
Crude futures edged towards $40/barrel on supply disruption worries

Supply disruptions in Iraq, Nigeria, and Russia pulled crude futures closer to $40 a barrel to their highest level in a month. August crude is at $39.25 a barrel, up 86 cents on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Iraqi output was halved over the weekend following sabotage to some of its pipelines, Nigeria suffered from a workers' protest and Yukos, a key Russian oil company, faces the potential for an output halt because of the need to pay more than $3 billion in back taxes. August heating oil and unleaded gas are each up more than 1 percent.

Morning all,

Just found this little piece on Sterling:

Sterling Energy, the Aim-listed gas company, gained 1 to a year high of 16.5p as traders said the management was meeting investors.

Found it in the Telegraph this morning.

Cheers

Gav

cheers Gav... shame i didn't get the call for the meet and greet!

Never mind proptrade, nor did I!

probably not enough sausage rolls to go round.

Maybe we'll get invited to the next one! Just found this in This Is London:

Acquisitive Aim-quoted exploration company Sterling Energy rose another 1p to 16 1/2p in heavy volumes on further institutional buying. Nearly 7m shares changed hands.

gav, you are hereby appointed as media guru for SEY. great spot.

Cheers Prop, like the sound of further institutional buying! Wish I'd topped up yesterday. Held back a bit, then a bit more and ended up not buying again. Will be buying some more on any dips though.

agreed, i think 15p or thereabouts is a decent level to add.

would be great to see some feedback from the investor chats to hear exactly what management thinks right now...

Quiet trading today.

I guess that punters are wating for a drop.

They will have a long wait I think! :)

Just come in off the wire.

WASHINGTON (AFX) -- Crude oil prices are likely to remain near current levels near $40 a barrel through 2005, the U.S. Energy Department said Wednesday in its monthly short-term energy outlook. Inventory levels remain low, particularly in the context of stronger demand, the Energy Information Agency said. 'The chances for even a gradual, sustained decline in crude oil prices through 2005, as previously projected in this outlook, seem to have diminished,' the agency said. 'Low world oil surplus capacity levels provide an extremely limited cushion in the event of unexpected world oil market disruptions.' For the summer, the agency is forecasting an average price of $1.89 a gallon, down 2 cents from last month's forecast.

This story was supplied by CBSMarketWatch. For further information see www.cbsmarketwatch.com.

People had better get used to it, these prices are here to stay!

Definitely agree with you there Seawallwalker! At most I think oil may drift down slightly, but the days of $20 - 25 oil are long gone. Even if it does drift down, it will come back up again and go higher. High and higher oil prices are here to stay.

Doesnt look like I'll get the chance to top up today. Will see what tomorrow brings but definitely want more of these.

Last trade of the day 1m at 16.38.

Probably not going down for a while, if at all.

How To Play The Oil Game
By UK-Analyst.com

Back in May the bears favourite argument was that spiralling oil prices would cripple the economy. The headlines talked of $60 crude. And then the threat seemed to disappear as OPEC promised to increase production and Tony Blair brought peace in our time to Iraq. Brent crude "collapsed" to just $33 in the space of a few weeks.

We say collapsed because that is how the newspapers report it. But you may remember that BP has admitted that at anything over $20 Brent it is making such huge windfall profits that it will have to hand billions of pounds of spare capital back to its shareholders. The reality is that $33 oil is very good news for the oil producers.

But crude won't stay in the mid thirties for long. It is slowly dawning on investors that OPEC has always cheated on its quotas so increasing production quotas does not necessarily equate to higher output. Moreover even if many OPEC producers wished to produce at full tilt it is very doubtful whether the infrastructure of, say, Iran could manage to run at full capacity for more than a few weeks. And of course Iraq is still not quite East Surrey - the export pipelines are blown up on a weekly basis. As an added bonus for oil bulls the Russian oil giant Yukos seems to be on the verge of going bust which is unlikely to add to exports from the FSU. With no sign of any slippage in demand you would be crackers not to have oil exposure in your portfolio.

Our view is that the way to play the oil game is via the second line explorer/producers. Unlike the majors these are pure oil plays with no exposure to refining or chemicals. As producers they benefit from higher short-term crude prices. But there is an added attraction. Companies such as BP and Shell now find themselves with an embarrassment of cash. However both have "mixed" exploration records of late. As such "drilling in the City" may well be viewed as a more attractive option than exploration in the field. Historically the oil cycle has worked this way. It is inconceivable that - at some stage over the next year - one of the majors won't have a pop at one of Tullow, Burren, Cairn or Dana. And when one receives a bid all will be re-rated. So we'd be looking to play the oil game with some exposure to the UK second liners.

UK-Analyst.com is a free website which sends out the UK's top stockmarket report plus a free share tip written by a panel of 25 top tipsters each working day. For more details of this free service click here