WTI $41.07 -83c, Brent $43.31 -98c, Diff -$2.24 -15c, NG $1.78 +10c

Oil price

Oil fell around a dollar yesterday for familiar reasons, continued increase in the virus numbers, not just in the USA but elsewhere still led to concerns about demand. Specifically in the US the weekly jobs numbers turned around for the first time for a while as jobless claims rose albeit marginally dampening down equity markets.

Relationships between the USA and China continue to deteriorate and one wonders how Joe Biden will handle the situation…In fact how Joe Biden will handle all sorts of things remain uncertain as he hunkers down hoping that the President will lose the election himself. Whoever is the boss the Sino problem will not go away and it is now affecting the relationship between the UK and China.

Ascent Resources

Ascent has announced this morning that it has formally notified the Government of the Republic of Slovenia of the existence of disputes under the UK-Slovenia bilateral Investment treaty and the Energy Charter Treaty. It is best to  quote the company exactly with regard to this to ensure accuracy.

‘In particular, the Government of Slovenia has been notified of the fact that certain actions which have caused considerable harm to the Investors’ investments in Slovenia constitute breaches by the Government of Slovenia of the protections established by the BIT and the ECT, including, inter alia the guarantee that the investments would be accorded fair and equitable treatment and Slovenia’s guarantee that the management, maintenance, use, enjoyment or disposal of the investments would not be impaired by arbitrary, unreasonable or discriminatory measures’.

It seems that increasingly possible that whilst investors continue to sincerely hope that an amicable solution can be found to the present disputes, the quarrel with Slovenia may end up in international arbitration. Having said that things are moving along at Ascent and I am increasingly liking this story as the Special Situations strategy combined with Cuba upside and a near term roll of the dice on a $50m claim in Slovenia plays out.

KeyFacts Energy Industry Directory: Malcy's Blog