New Projects and good prospects. will be the winner in 2004. IMO
25p in early 2004

Blimey! Can't take your eyes off the screens for a second. We suddenly have lift off.

Blimey! Can't take your eyes off the screens for a second. We suddenly have lift off.

gavdfc: MMs are buying. Offer has just gone to 12.25p

Superb Grevis!!!! Go out for a bit and come back to this!!! Any reason why Grevis?

gavdfc: It is reckoned that many were holding back hoping the price would ease.

Well doesnt look like the price will be easing back today. If buys keep coming in like this then it should move up again today. Couldnt see any RNS released today.

You never can tell. They've put out a few just lately.

should've topped up this morning.... still worth topping up at this levels as oil price is on the rampage again:



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: Oil is up and so is PCI. Now seeing some fat 'buys' go through. Someone just bought 500,000.

Just got this email from Reuters:

Oil price climbs to one-month high
Tue 6 July, 2004 11:47



By Toby Reynolds

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices have risen to their highest in a month as supply disruptions in Iraq and Nigeria add momentum to a five-day rally.

U.S. light crude climbed 94 cents to $39.33 a barrel on Tuesday in the first trade since weekend pipeline sabotage cut Iraqi oil exports almost in half. The U.S. market was closed on Monday.

London Brent crude rose 56 cents to $36.86 a barrel.

U.S. oil has gained almost four dollars since last Tuesday in a rally carried along by Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi's comments that oil prices were "fair."

Since then other OPEC members have also said they were happy with prices at current levels, leading analysts to speculate that there may be no need for the group to carry out an agreed extra output hike for August at its next meeting, in Vienna on July 21.

Although extra OPEC oil, mostly from Saudi Arabia, has brought the market down from its early June peaks, when New York futures reached a record $42.45 per barrel, fears remain over the security of supply at a time when production capacity is stretched to meet strong demand growth.

Bulls received a brief boost on Tuesday from news that French oil major Total had shut in about 225,000 barrels per day of Nigerian production on Friday due to a workers' protest.

Upside momentum was capped when Total said it had restarted that output on Monday.

Analysts said that with Iraq still suffering from sabotage attacks and with traders fearing supply disruptions at Russian oil giant YUKOS, U.S. oil could easily top $40 again.

"We could well test the highs again," said Edward Meir at Man Energy. "We are seeing these incidents just hitting the supply situation, and who knows, that could keep going on."

Iraqi exports were running at 984,000 barrels per day (bpd) on Monday, down from close to two million bpd before attackers bombed a pipeline running to two southern oil terminals and another linking oilfields in the north and south.

Officials said repairs on the southern pipelines could be completed late on Tuesday.

Traders also are worried that Russia's biggest producer, YUKOS, may have to cut some of its 400,000 bpd of crude and refined products exported by rail and river in July, as it struggles to fund operations with its bank accounts frozen.

YUKOS, teetering on the brink of bankruptcy with almost $7 billion in tax arrears, said on Monday it planned no export cuts this month and had prepaid pumping deals with pipeline monopoly Transneft until the end of July.

The company pumps 1.7 million bpd and exports more than 70 percent of output in the form of crude or oil products, representing more than one-fifth of Russia's total production and exports.

I see can oil price is gonna surge, even thou it is nowt to do with OPEC this time... and I dont think OPEC will rise the output again. TOP UP NOW

xmortal: Buyers are listening. PCI has ticked up to 12.25p on the offer. More to come I suspect.

Up she goes again

No wonder OPEC are happy with the current price of oil just now. With the oil price moving upwards, they have no incentive to increase the supply to lower the price. They hold back on the supply and keep the price high.

gavdfc: I would do the same. Why sell more oil for less!

grevis2,

But surely they must be careful not to cause a oil price led recession in those countries that are their customers?

otherwise, they will be selling less oil period.

Andy: Agreed and that is why stockmarkets around the world are decidedly edgy. However, PCI are rising because people are showing tremendous faith in their Tunisian and other prospects. It also helps to see Gartmore and Fidelity constantly increasing their holdings.

OPEC have a huge incentive to keep oil prices relatively high, but not to get too high. Andy, you're right in that if oil got too high then indeed it may cause a world recession. I guess the balance for OPEC is keeping prices high enough for them to profit but not to cause recession and a overall decrease in world demand. Would oil at $40bp cause a recession? I dont think so.

gavdfc: I think I'm right in saying that oil peaked in real terms in 1974. At today's money, we are talking about $120 dollars a barrel.

Exactly Grevis. The supply shock in the 70's pushed oil to over $40 a barrel. Since then the world has had oil at much cheaper prices. One could argue that oil has not risen in line with inflation and has in real terms fallen in price.

I've heard Hugh Hendry of Odey Asset Management argue that in real terms, oil should indeed be much higher than it is now. He argued that "cheap" oil is long gone and the world has to adjust to higher oil prices. How high it will go would be an interesting discussion.