Desire Petroleum Continues Slide

The US dollar fell back to €0.735 against the euro on Wednesday, resulting in a rise of nearly $1 in the price of crude oil to over $79 a barrel. Oil stocks rose correspondingly, with BP, BG Group, Cairn Energy and Tullow Oil all in positive territory by between 0.3% and 1.2%.

Dominic Turner
shareprices.com - Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Printable version email to a friend Subscribe to shareprices.com newsfeed

Overall, the FTSE 100 index closed up 27.83 points or 0.5% at 5,342.92, after comments from the Chairman of the US Federal Reserve alleviated fears that interest rates may be raised earlier than expected.

Gains for the oil majors brought cold comfort for investors in British oil interests in the South Atlantic, however. The pressure on Britain from Argentina – and its South American allies, including Brazil, Nicaragua and Venezuela – over drilling for oil near the Falkland Islands intensified on Wednesday. The annual summit of the so-called Rio Group in Mexico yesterday called for the transfer of the Falkland Islands to Argentina and criticised the United Nations for its failure to resolve the sovereignty issue.

Desire Petroleum, a constituent of the FTSE AIM ("Alternative Investment Market") 100 index, started up its first oil rig in the North Falkland Basin, Ocean Guardian, earlier in the week and said that it would hit its target of 3,500 metres within 30 days. Its share price stood at 112.75p when it started drilling, having reached 117p a few days earlier, but the diplomatic row over the sovereignty of the Falklands has shaken investor confidence and the Malvern firm closed down a further 5p or 4.48% at 106.5p on Wednesday.

 

Latest News

Related News

FTSE 100 Latest

ValueChange
5,403.2898.80  % rise