REUTERS - In December, crude runs rose 4.4 percent from the year before to 51.17 million tonnes, or 12.05 million bpd, hovering near a record of 52.78 million tonnes racked up in October.

PLATTS - US onshore E&P capital investments in 2019 are likely to be flat to slightly down from last year, with international activity outside North America picking up slowly over the next several months, Schlumberger's top executive said.

ENCA - Saudi Arabia's planning to build an oil refinery and a petrochemicals plant in South Africa. It's part of a $10-billion (R138-billion) investment in the country.

SCHLUMBERGER - Schlumberger Chairman and CEO Paal Kibsgaard commented, “Full-year 2018 revenue of $32.8 billion increased 8% year-on-year and grew for the second successive year. Performance was driven by North America where revenue of $12.0 billion increased 26% due to the results of our OneStim® business, which grew by 41%. Full-year international revenue of $20.4 billion was essentially flat compared with 2017. However, excluding Cameron, international revenue for the second half of 2018 showed year-over-year growth of 3%, marking the beginning of a positive activity trend after three consecutive years of declining revenues.

BHGE - U.S. Rig Count is down 25 rigs from last week to 1,050 rigs, with oil rigs down 21 to 852 and gas rigs down 4 to 198. Canada Rig Count is up 25 rigs from last week to 209, with oil rigs up 25 to 128 and gas rigs unchanged at 81.

NOVATEK - In 2018, NOVATEK’s hydrocarbon production totaled 548.4 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe), including 68.81 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas and 11,800 thousand tons of liquids (gas condensate and crude oil), resulting in an increase in total hydrocarbons produced by 35.1 million boe, or by 6.9% as compared with the twelve months 2017.

U.S. EIA - EIA forecasts Brent prices will average $61 per barrel (b) in 2019 and $65/b in 2020. In 2018, Brent prices averaged $71/b.

CNBC - Saudi Arabia has additional reserves in an area along the border with Kuwait that has sat idle due to a dispute between the neighbors. Including this so-called Neutral Zone, Saudi oil reserves total 268.5 billion barrels, DeGolyer and MacNaughton concluded. That compares with an earlier estimate of 266.3 billion barrels.

U.S. EIA - Crude oil production in Iraq averaged 4.5 million barrels per day (b/d) through August 2018, up from 4.4 million b/d in 2017. Iraq’s crude oil production has been steadily increasing since declines in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and it has nearly doubled over the past decade.

PLATTS - Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil giant Aramco will seek to sell around $10 billion in bonds to help fund the purchase of petrochemicals firm Sabic, Saudi energy minister Khalid al-Falih said Sunday.

BHGE - U.S. Rig Count is unchanged from last week at 1,075 rigs, with oil rigs down 4 to 873 and gas rigs up 4 to 202. Canada Rig Count is up 108 rigs from last week to 184, with oil rigs up 83 to 103 and gas rigs up 25 to 81.

МИНЭНЕРГО РОССИИ - “В нефтяной отрасли мы в 2018 году по итогам года добыли 556 миллионов тонн нефти. Это на 10 миллионов тонн больше, чем в 2017 году. Прирост составил 1,6 процента. Было введено в эксплуатацию 54 месторождения. В газовой отрасли также побит 18-летний рекорд по добыче – 725 миллиардов кубических метров газа добыто. Это составляет примерно пятипроцентный прирост к 2017 году”, - сообщил Александр Новак.

NPD - The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate’s forecasts show that, after a minor decline in 2019, oil and gas production will increase from 2020 and up to 2023. Overall production will then approach the record year of 2004.

The worldwide rig count for December 2018 was 2,244, down 22 from the 2,266 counted in November 2018, and up 155 from the 2,089 counted in December 2017.

BHGE - U.S. Rig Count is down 8 rigs from last week to 1,075, with oil rigs down 8 to 877 and gas rigs unchanged at 198. Canada Rig Count is up 6 rigs from last week to 76, with oil rigs up 5 to 20 and gas rigs up 1 to 56.