Some good points about the oil price. Sentiment is clearly not...

Some good points about the oil price. Sentiment is clearly not with MCE, while the oil price is falling. But the bigger question is in Flemster's post - will the low oil price lead to deferral of new contract awards and margin squeeze ?

I think the answer to both is almost certainly yes. But :

- MCE should be insulated for the next 18 months by existing work;
- the falling dollar should help them win a bigger share of new work, and protect margins to some degree;
- not all their business is new exploration, there is a large maintenance market;
- they are also developing products for new markets;
- arguably, at half net asset value, the deteriorating outlook is in the price;
- the big shareholders, including the founder, will most likely engineer a takeover if things get too grim.