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The era of $100 oil is over, according to Colombia's finance minister, who said the country was preparing for a "new normal" of between $60 and $70 per barrel. Mauricio Cárdenas said Colombia, which produces one million barrels of oil per day, was "not counting" on prices returning to their June high of $115 a barrel in the coming years. "We're making everything that is necessary to adjust in a small and gradual way to prices between $60 and $70," he told the Telegraph. "It is the new normal. We hope to be proved wrong and we would like to have a surprise but we are making sure that the surprise is a positive one." Oil prices fell to a five-and-a-half year low of $46 a barrel in January as the Opec cartel of oil producers said they would continue to pump oil into the market in order to retain market share. However, prices have since recovered to around $62 a barrel as US producers have cut output. Mr Cárdenas said he believed it was unlikely that prices would bounce back to much higher levels. "We've talked to analysts and experts. We don't think the current market conditions are going to change any time soon. If prices recover that's going to be good news [but] we're planning for the new normal for prices between $60 and $70."

Development Securities lands TfL housing deal Developer to build more than 300 new homes above Southwark underground station

Oil price rebound hits fuel pumps: Brent crude makes biggest monthly gain in six years: A sharp rebound in the price of oil has pushed up the cost of petrol for millions of drivers.

Hold Travis Perkins as it builds up momentum: The builders’ merchant Travis Perkins has performed well since joining the FTSE 100 in mid-2013, but has lagged behind its neighbours in the house-building business. Travis Perkins shares have risen about 39% since its promotion to the blue-chips, compared with a 48% increase at property builder Persimmon, which joined the index in the same quarter. Analysts at Numis last week said construction in Britain looks set to increase between 4% and 5% a year to 2018, based on figures from the Construction Products Association. This despite the fact that spending on construction relative to GDP is at a historically low level. Consumer confidence tends to take a short-term slide after general elections, and the prospect of a coalition government compounds the uncertainty for anyone looking to move house or spend large sums on renovations. However, Questor gets a bit dizzy at great heights, and notes that Travis Perkins is now approaching the record share price that it achieved in 2007. This makes U.S. reluctant to advise piling in at this point. But this firm is built on bricks, mortar and new paint jobs, which is currently a lucrative place. Travis Perkins at 2,016p. Questor says “Hold”.

Browne makes dealmaking comeback: Lord Browne, the former chief executive of BP, is to take charge of a $10 billion oil and gas group backed by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman, with a brief to build an international business through partnership deals and acquisitions.

U.K. blocks sale of North Sea gasfields to Fridman fund: The U.K. has blocked the sale of North Sea gasfields from Germany’s RWE to a multibillion-dollar investment fund backed by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman, citing fears over the impact of any further sanctions against Moscow.

Wood Mackenzie, one of the world’s leading energy consultancies, has received competing takeover offers that value the private-equity controlled business at as much as £1.6 billion as its backers mull an exit, according to people familiar with the matter.

London house prices may have fallen slightly last month but homes in the capital are still 12% more expensive than they were a year ago. Househunters propel Rightmove to the top of Google charts: Britons’ love of property has reached such epic proportions that Rightmove has become the most searched for business online.

l prices ended slightly higher last week, after swinging between gains and losses. The commodity found support after Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi stated that demand for crude oil was increasing. However, the Energy Information Administration revealed that US crude oil stockpiles increased 8.4 million barrels last week, while the American Petroleum Institute announced that oil inventories rose 8.9 million barrels, pressurising the commodity. Brent crude oil prices declined 0.3% to $60.05/barrel.

Standard Chartered poised for their best 2-day gain in nearly 2-1/2 years after shares jump another 5 pct ** Sweeping management changes likely to be the catalyst for funds that had stayed away even as valuations got down to distressed levels, on Asian broker says, adding current strength down to short-covering ahead of this flow ** Stock is top performer on the FTSE on another day of healthy activity with about $100 mln traded by late morning. Volumes already about 3/4th a daily average ** StanChart announced a boardroom clearout on Thursday which led to the departure of CEO Peter Sands, its Asia head, its chairman and three non-executive directors ** CLSA says assumption is that Bill Winters, who takes over in June, will conduct a material re-basing of the book and potentially a capital raise to shore up liquidity ** StanChart currently trades at 0.8 times book value vs 0.9 times and 1.2 times for HSBC and Lloyds Bank respectively (RM: vikram.subhedar.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)

LONDON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - The world's largest integrated gas-to-liquids plant, Pearl GTL in Qatar's Ras Laffan, has started a partial two-month maintenance programme, operator Shell said on Friday. Planned maintenance work on one of the two trains, or production facilities, at the huge plant began this month, Shell said without specifying a date. Pearl GTL can produce 140,000 barrels per day of gas-to-liquids products and 120,000 barrels per day of natural gas liquids and ethane. One train produces half of this output. (Reporting by Karolin Schaps, editing by William Hardy)

Average first-time buyer deposits rose to £29,127 in January, an increase of 15% in the last year and up 7% from December, marking the highest amount seen since July 2013. Analysis suggests that this increase has been largely driven by changes to stamp duty which came into effect in December, lowering bills for new buyers and enabling them to divert the savings into the deposit. The figures, from Your Move and Reeds Rains' First Time Buyer Tracker, also show that the average purchase price for first-time buyers (FTBs) increased to £160,304, up 12% from the typical price of £143,343 recorded in January 2014 and marking a new record. This growing purchasing power is further reflected in the typical LTV, with ratios having fallen by 1.1% over the last three months, with the typical FTB now seeking a mortgage at an LTV of 81.8%. Despite this improved affordability, lending activity has declined: January saw 21,200 FTB transactions, down 18.8% from December (26,100) and a significant quarterly drop of 26.1%. However, the figures suggest that this is due to usual seasonal factors, with activity predicted to rise over the coming months. "A fusion of economic factors is alleviating some of the financial burden of forming a deposit," said Adrian Gill, of Your Move and Reeds Rains. "Demand at the bottom of the market remains strong, [and] after the usual seasonal dip, we expect completions in this part of the purchase market to reflect steadier front-end sales activity."

William Hill Plc (WMH.L) Announced, in its final results for the 52 weeks ended 30 December 2014, that its reported revenue stood at £1,609.3 million as compared to £1,486.5 million in the previous year. Gross profit stood at £1,305.1 million as compared to £1,214.3 million. Profit after tax was £206.3 million as compared to £226.5 million. The company’s diluted earnings per share was 23.4p as compared to 24.7p.

BA owner IAG has operating profits 80.5% higher for 2014 at £1.4bn, thanks partly to cheaper fuel. The company reported that non-fuel unit costs for the quarter decreased by 0.8% at a constant currency

Lack of supply hitting housing affordability: Housing is still becoming more unaffordable, as demand continues to outstrip supply.

Surveys reveal U.K. consumers are optimistic on the economy: Consumer confidence is at pre-recession levels, new figures show. GDP gets boost from exports: U.K. GDP growth in the final three months of the year came in at 0.5%, in line with first estimates.

North Sea player Ithaca faces fresh delay on major project: Shares in North Sea- focused Ithaca Energy have plunged around 30% after the company said the expected start of production from a flagship oil field off Scotland had been pushed back again.

Barratt urges Government to free up land for housing shortfall: Barratt Developments Boss Mark Clare has urged the Government to “be bold” and free up land to help address Britain’s housing shortfall.

Fuming BAT to sue U.K. government over plans to remove cigare packet branding: The world’s second-largest tobacco maker will sue the British government over plans to remove cigarette packet branding.

RSA returns to the black under new Boss Stephen Hester but shares drop as dividend disappoints: Insurer RSA heralded a return to profit under new Chief Executive Stephen Hester, by announcing it will pay a final dividend to shareholders after a year of restructuring, cost savings and disposals - in addition to putting its Middle East and Russian businesses on the block.