WTI (Aug) $83.88 +$1.07, Brent (Sep) $87.34 +$1.10, Diff -$3.46 +3c
USNG (Aug) $2.42 -2c, UKNG (Aug) 76.28p -1.67p, TTF (Aug) €32.45 -€0.85

Oil price

Happy Independence Day to those of you who are celebrating today, US markets are closed and for most tomorrow as well although the economists will have to be in for the Non-farm Payrolls where the whisper is for 200/- jobs created which if accurate could see rates falling in September. Jerome Powell yesterday said that he needs to have ‘greater confidence’ that inflation is headed in the right direction. 

The EIA inventory stats followed in line but better than the API ones with a crude draw of 12.157m barrels beating the whisper of -700/-. The numbers for products were -2.2m and 1.5m for gasoline and distillates respectively which showed that the demand for refined product exports is substantial. And the US AA say that there will be 70m ‘moves’ over the weekend and any day now the USA will break a record and 3 million passengers will take a journey one day.

UK elections today and whilst we would never dream of getting involved this time it’s personal, the heinous tax hikes by the current administration are in the shade when you look at the plans that Labour has for the UK energy industry. You don’t even need to take a side in the net zero debate to know that the UK uses a huge amount of oil and gas which just can’t be ‘wished away’ as quoted this week. With a flourishing domestic industry the decision to give that up in favour of importing energy of dubious carbon quality and ethics for many years to come is to be frank absurd.

i3 Energy

i3 has announced that the court order cancelling i3 Energy’s deferred A shares (issued in conjunction with the share capital reduction, as previously announced by the Company on 20 June 2024) and the amount standing to the credit of the share premium account, along with the associated court approved statement of capital, has been delivered to the Registrar of Companies. The Capital Reduction will become effective upon the registration of the court order by the Registrar of Companies, which is expected to occur in the next few days.

The Capital Reduction has resulted in the creation of distributable reserves which will give maximum flexibility to consider the payment of dividends and otherwise to return value to Shareholders, should the Board consider it appropriate.  With this implementation of the Capital Reduction, there is no change in the nominal value of the Company’s shares, or the number of shares issued.  The Capital Reduction did not involve any distribution or repayment of share premium by the Company and will not reduce the underlying net assets of the Company.

i3 has followed up on its previous announcement and the stage is set for what has become regulation to investors and the company have created the circumstances whereby they can be flexible about payments which we have seen to be a real bonus for shareholders. Now see dividend announcement below…

i3 Energy has announced the following 2nd Quarter 2024 dividend:

• Dividend: 0.2565 pence/share
• Ex-Dividend Date: 11 July 2024
• Record Date: 12 July 2024
• Payment date: 2 August 2024

Payment to shareholders holding their shares on the TSX will be made in Canadian dollars using the exchange rate from the Bank of England at close on the Dividend announcement date, 4 July 2024.

So, following on from that the 2Q dividend is 0.2565p/share which is very meaningful and the shares are unchanged at 9.8p. This means that for a high quality stock which appears to be back on the rails and also pays a divvi that yields some 14%, and that ticks a lot of my boxes.

KeyFacts Energy Industry Directory: Malcy's Blog