REUTERS - Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $63.79 per barrel at 0753 GMT, up 18 cents, or 0.3 percent, from their previous close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $60.24 a barrel, up 12 cents, or 0.2 percent.

OPEC - The OPEC Reference Basket increased for the fifth-straight month in January, gaining a sharp 7.7% to average $66.85/b, the highest monthly average since November 2014. Oil prices were supported by continuing efforts by OPEC and participating non-OPEC producers to balance the market and ten consecutive weeks of crude inventory draws amid healthy economic growth and improving oil demand.

EIA - Exports grew to 1.1 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2017, or 527,000 b/d (89%) more than exports in 2016, in the second full year of unrestricted U.S. crude oil exports. This is the largest single year-over-year increase of a petroleum (crude oil and petroleum products) export since 1920.

REUTERS - Brent crude futures were at $65.37 per barrel at 0149 GMT, down 42 cents, or 0.6 percent from their previous close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $62.16 a barrel, down 44 cents, or 0.7 percent.

SAUDI ARAMCO - our industry needs more than 20 trillion dollars over the next quarter century to meet rising demand for oil and gas (including in ageing infrastructure).

IEA - Oil production growth from the United States, Brazil, Canada and Norway can keep the world well supplied, more than meeting global oil demand growth through 2020, but more investment will be needed to boost output after that.

EIA - North Sea Brent crude oil spot prices averaged $65 per barrel (b) in February, a decrease of $4/b from the January level and the first month-over-month average decrease since June 2017. EIA forecasts Brent spot prices will average about $62/b in both 2018 and 2019 compared with an average of $54/b in 2017.

REUTERS - International benchmark Brent crude was up 44 cents, or 0.68 percent, at $64.81 a barrel by 0135 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 41 cents, or 0.67 percent, to $61.66 per barrel.

REUTERS -“We all should look with responsibility to the market in order to keep the balance in the market as much as we can so as not to harm investors,” said Ali Nazar, Iraq’s national representative to OPEC.

REUTERS - Any deal between the Philippines and a Chinese firm to jointly explore for gas in the Reed Bank of the South China Sea will be illegal unless China recognizes the southeast Asian nation’s sovereign rights there, a Philippine judge said on Monday.