EQUINOR - The board of directors of Statoil proposes to change the name of the company to Equinor. The name change supports the company’s strategy and development as a broad energy company.

REUTERS - China’s metals industry issued the country’s most explicit threat yet in the row, urging on Friday for the government to retaliate by targeting U.S. coal - a sector that is central to Trump’s political base and his election pledge to restore American industries and blue-collar jobs.

API - “The oil and natural gas industry is a major contributor to the American economy and helps meet America’s constantly increasing energy needs. We support more than 10.3 million U.S. jobs and contribute $1.3 trillion to the U.S. economy - benefits that are felt across the country,” said API Director of Upstream and Industry Operations Erik Milito.

FT - The loans bring total Chinese energy finance in Africa since 2000 to $34.8bn. While this is well behind the $69bn lent in Europe and Central Asia, the $62bn in Latin America and the $60bn in Asia over the same period, the 2017 data illustrate Africa’s growing importance.

MOODY'S - Moody's Investors Service has downgraded the Government of Venezuela's foreign currency and local currency issuer ratings, foreign and local currency senior unsecured ratings, and foreign currency senior secured rating to C from Caa3. Concurrently, the foreign currency senior unsecured medium term note program has also been downgraded to (P)C from (P)Caa3. The outlook has been changed to stable from negative.

EIA - Brent global benchmark crude oil price will increase throughout the projection period but will remain lower than prices during 2010–2014 in real dollar terms. For this reason, future investment growth in higher-cost resources is expected to be lower than in recent history. Global production of tight oil will increase by 3.3 million b/d, offshore deepwater by 2.7 million b/d, and oil sands by 1.4 million b/d between 2017 and 2040. Total production increases from these sources makes up nearly half of the long-term global liquids supply growth through 2040.

REUTERS - “The stability in oil prices is a net positive. If energy companies can demonstrate to investors that they can generate cash flow in the current oil price environment, they can go public,” said Grant Kernaghan, Citigroup’s managing director of Canadian investment banking. “The recent volatility hasn’t resulted in markets shutting down,” he added, suggesting equity markets were still open despite a 10-session period up to Feb. 8 when the S&P 500 dropped over 10 percent.

BAKER HUGHES A GE - U.S. Rig Count is up 3 rigs from last week to 984, with oil rigs down 4 to 796, gas rigs up 7 to 188. Canada Rig Count is down 29 rigs from last week to 273, with oil rigs down 15 to 196 and gas rigs down 14 to 77.

EXXONMOBIL - Aggressive Growth Plans to More than Double Earnings - Earnings and cash flow from operations projected to approximately double by 2025 - Strongest investment opportunities in two decades to drive results, improve returns - Profitable production growth with low-cost-of-supply tight oil, liquefied natural gas and deepwater

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 -“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.

ROSNEFT - The decisions of ExxonMobil to abandon certain projects that fall under the legislative limitations once again imposed by the US government despite their successful development fully comply with the position of the American regulator that changed the way we collaborate on these projects.