Cairn Energy, the oil and gas explorer, has reported a second oil discovery off the coast of Senegal in West Africa.

“The Edinburgh-based company described the find as “significant”, adding that the oil was of high quality.

The discovery was made at its SNE-1 well in the Sangomar Deep block about 100km (62 miles) offshore.

According to Cairn’s preliminary estimates, the well could could hold between 150 million and 670 million barrels of recoverable resources.

Last month, the company announced it had found oil at the nearby Fan-1 well.

Cairn has a 40% working interest in Sangomar and two other blocks in the area. Stakes are also held by ConocoPhillips (35%), FAR (15%) and Petrosen (10%).” [BBC News]

Brent Crude fell to a four-year low as OPEC refuses to cut output to reverse a four-month decrease in oil prices.

“Crude has dropped into a bear market this year amid a global glut. The largest OPEC producers are responding by cutting prices, resisting calls to reduce supply as they compete with the highest U.S. production in three decades. Kuwait’s oil minister said he doesn’t expect the group to trim output at its next meeting in Vienna on Nov. 27. Prices also retreated on plans by Libya to resume pumping at two fields within days.

Hedge funds and other big money managers reduced net-long positions in WTI by 8 percent in the week ended Nov. 4 to 167,906 contracts futures and options combined, the lowest in 20 months, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show.” [Bloomberg] 

Excess demand in China and India could see a resurgence for coal production according to Peabody Energy CEO, Greg Boyce.

“Robust economic growth in India and China as well as stable recovery in the U.S. could contribute to a coal-market rebound in 2015, said Greg Boyce, chief executive of Peabody Energy Corp., the largest U.S. coal producer by output.” [WSJ Online]

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