Market report: Oilers gushing as Saudis lose patience and target $100 a barrel

Oilers rushed to the top of the FTSE 100 leaderboard today amid speculation in the Square Mile that Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest producer, is about to dramatically overhaul its oil strategy.

Yesterday Khalid Al-Falih, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister, was given the boot as the kingdom’s ruler Mohammad Bin Salman is unhappy with oil languishing at around $60 (£49) per barrel as it has led to heavy debt piles for the country.

It is understood Saudi leaders want to ramp up Opec output cuts in order to push prices higher and Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, a half brother of the king, has been brought in to oversee the strategy.

Oil prices have not been at $100 per barrel since 2014 and the royal family want to see oil up around that mark so Saudi Aramco’s float can finally get away. Fund managers said Aramco won’t reach its desired $2 trillion valuation unless the price fully recovers.

As a result Shell was the top riser on the blue-chip index, up 34p to 2294p, while BP added 5.6p to 506p. But it wasn’t enough for the FTSE 100, which lost 3.39 points to 7278.95.

Away from the oil industry, M&A talk dominated trading floors. Shares in struggling shopping centres firm Intu jumped more than 10% on reports private equity firm Orion Capital Managers was considering a buyout.

Brokers said a takeover would be a huge relief for shareholders as Intu, which owns the Trafford Centre in Manchester, has debt of £4.89 billion and a market valuation of just £496.6 million.

Further down the market law firm Rosenblatt turned some heads after it said it had created a new white-collar fraud and financial crime division.

Services include dealing with cybercrime, including identity theft and phishing, as well as money laundering, tax evasion and fraud. The shares were up 1.4p to 85.9p.

There are still hopes that savers with collapsed bond company London Capital & Finance could recoup some of their money.

LCF is a major investor in North Sea explorer Independent Oil & Gas via a company called London Oil & Gas which it lent $40 million to.

Administrators are hoping to recoup that loan to return money to LCF’s bondholders.

This session Independent Oil & Gas said it had issued a £90 million five-year bond to fund its gas development project in the UK Southern North Sea.

The shares rose 7%, or 1.2p, to 19.4p.