2018

PLATTS - Saudi Arabia will require oil prices higher than $84/b to avoid running another deficit, analysts warned after the kingdom announced on Tuesday record government spending in its state budget for 2019.

REUTERS - Foreign investment in Saudi Arabia more than doubled in 2018 to 13 billion riyals ($3.5 billion), its economy and planning minister said on Wednesday, despite a global furor following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October.

API - The U.S. produced a record 11.6 million barrels of oil per day (mb/d) and a record 4.8 mb/d of NGLs in November. Crude exports also hit a record high at 2.4 million barrels per day last month, and U.S. petroleum net imports fell at their lowest monthly level in more than 50 years at 2.2 million barrels per day.

U.S. EIA - Crude oil production from the major US onshore regions is forecast to increase 134,000 b/d month-over-month in January from 8,032 to 8,166 thousand barrels/day , gas production to increase 1,127 million cubic feet/day from 75,789 to 76,916 million cubic feet/day .

U.S. BEA - The U.S. current-account deficit increased to $124.8 billion (preliminary) in the third quarter of 2018 from $101.2 billion (revised) in the second quarter of 2018, according to statistics released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). The deficit was 2.4 percent of current-dollar gross domestic product (GDP) in the third quarter, up from 2.0 percent in the second quarter.

PLATTS - India imported 17 million mt (4.2 million b/d) of crude oil in November, down 11.4% year on year, the latest provisional data from the country's Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell showed.

NPD - Preliminary production figures for November 2018 show an average daily production of 1 880 000 barrels of oil, NGL and condensate, which is an increase of 22 000 barrels per day compared to October.

NOVATEK - PAO NOVATEK ("NOVATEK" and/or the "Company") and SACE (CDP Group) signed a Memorandum on Strategic Cooperation (“Memorandum”) in relation to the Company's current and future LNG projects. The parties agreed to develop long-term cooperation on the Arctic LNG 2 project and potential new LNG projects involving Italian suppliers and engineering companies.

SAIPEM - Saipem, in Joint Venture with Renaissance, a Turkish oil&gas services company, has been awarded a new Onshore E&C project in the Russian Federation worth 2.2 billion Euro overall. As leader of the JV, with a shareholding of 50%, Saipem’s portion of the total amount is therefore approximately 1.1 billion Euro.

WNN - Russia's National Operator for Radioactive Waste Management (NO RWM), Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom and the Korea Radioactive Waste Agency (KORAD) today signed an agreement to cooperate in radioactive waste management. The agreement was signed by Igor Igin, NO RWM's director genera, Oleg Kryukov, Rosatom's director of state policy on radioactive waste, used nuclear fuel and decommissioning, and Cha Sung-soo, chairman of KORAD.