Australian LNG

The Brent oil price is beginning to look weak, down -4.1% Friday night to $38.64.

From Citi: ENN buys into Santos — ENN Ecological Holdings (a subsidiary of ENN) has announced that it is acquiring Hony Capital’s 11.7% interest in Santos for US$750m, with Hony Capital then agreeing to become a strategic investor in ENN via a US$380m private placement.

By Leith van Onselen For years MB has questioned whether the liquified natural gas (LNG) boom will actually be beneficial to Australians, who in the absence of a domestic reservation policy will be forced to endure rising domestic gas prices as most of the bounty from LNG exports flows offshore.

From the SCMP: Shanghai-listed ENN Ecological Holdings, a subsidiary of ENN Group, the parent of Hong Kong-listed ENN Energy, has agreed to buy a 11.7 per cent stake in Australian oil and gas producer Santos for US$750 million.

The Brent oil price too a solid 3% hit last night to $40.47 as I write because US inventories continue to climb at a breakneck pace.

Big iron ore leading share lower today as BHP is down -1.4%, RIO -0.2%, FMG -1.5% as Dalian is down five points: Big gas is selling too with WPL -0.5%, OSH -1.3%.

Shocking nobody but Josh Freudencoal and Naked Emperor Barnett comes the news from WPL we’ve know for years: There will be no second phase boom for Australian LNG.

The Brent oil price was little changed over night at $41.57.

The Brent oil price was up overnight trading at $41.63 as I write.

It’s risk off day with Aussie well below 76 cents, Brent hit and Dalian easing.

The ANZ’s Richard Yetsenga has nailed his colours to the mast, from the ABC: The bank’s acting chief economist and global head of financial markets research Richard Yetsenga told a business function in Perth he believed the commodity bear market days were in their “final stages”.

The Brent oil price popped then dropped Friday night to $41.42 and the brave might be tempted to call a top.

The big iron party rolls on with BHP up 4.2%, RIO 2.7% and FMG 2.3%: All are still short of previous bear market rally highs though in up trends.

From S&P today comes some spectacular research measuring the extend of global capex cuts as the Mining GFC takes full toll of materials and energy firms; Crescendo.

God save the bears!

From the AFR: A glut of liquefied natural gas is likely to plague the market until 2022, triggering further delays to new projects and potentially forcing some producers in Queensland, Western Australia and elsewhere to cut back production, Citigroup analysts say.

Brent oil rebounded last night on a range of positives to $40.29.

Slowly but surely the big iron ore bounce is sagging with BHP down -2.3%, RIO -1.1% and FMG -1.4%: Dalian is trading up five points from overnight but is still pricing around $51 so spot could still fall again tonight.

Big iron is fading today as Dalian hits the skids down three points from the overnight low.

If iron ore can hold, it’s big, from UBS: Diversifieds: All else equal, our BHP & RIO earnings estimates for CY 16 would be 1053% and 135% higher respectively, under a spot scenario.

The Brent oil price fell solidly last night to $39.71 and Henry Hub gas settled at $1.82mmBtu: The OPEC non-deal continues to fray: Kuwait’s oil minister said he never got an official invitation to a March OPEC meeting and had only heard about it via the media.