China’s top state oil major Sinopec, one of the country’s top banks and its sovereign wealth fund have agreed to help develop Alaska’s liquefied natural gas sector as part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit, the U.S. government said on Thursday. The agreement will involve investment of up to $43 billion, create up to 12,000 U.S. jobs during construction, reduce the trade deficit between the United States and Asia by $10 billion a year, and give China clean energy.

The worldwide rig count for October 2017 was 2,077, down 4 from the 2,081 counted in September 2017, and up 457 from the 1,620 counted in October 2016.

TESCO reported a U.S. GAAP net loss of $13.0 million, or $(0.28) per share, in the third quarter of 2017. Adjusted net loss for the quarter was $9.2 million, or $(0.20) per share, excluding special items, consisting primarily of charges related to restructuring and transaction costs. Restructuring costs were mainly for facility consolidation and headcount reductions in Latin America. This compares to a U.S. GAAP net loss of $12.1 million, or $(0.26) per diluted share, in the second quarter of 2017, and a U.S. GAAP net loss of $22.1 million, or (0.48) per diluted share, in the third quarter of 2016. Adjusted net loss in the second quarter of 2017 was $11.6 million, or $(0.25) per diluted share, and in the third quarter of 2016 was $17.3 million, or $(0.37) per diluted share.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 were up 5 cents at $64.32 per barrel by 0750 GMT. On Monday, they closed 3.5 percent higher, also their biggest percentage gain in about six weeks. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 was down just 3 cents at $57.32 a barrel. The contract surged 3 percent on Monday, the biggest percentage gain since late September. Both benchmarks hit their highest since mid-2015 during the session.

West Texas Intermediate for December delivery rose 23 cents to $55.87 a barrel at 10:04 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange after earlier rising to $56.28, the highest intraday price since July 2015. Brent for January settlement climbed 46 cents to $62.53 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange, and traded at a $6.41 premium to WTI for the same month.

Barclays raised its Brent oil price forecast, saying Brent will average $60/bbl during the fourth quarter and will average $55/bbl in 2018. The average 2018 forecast was up $3 compared with Barclays earlier forecast.

Crude oil imports by China's independent refineries in eastern Shandong province, Xinhai Petrochemical in Hebei and Fengli Petrochemical in Henan rebounded 11% month on month to around 7.435 million mt in October, or 1.76 million b/d.

Отклонение нефтегазовых доходов федерального бюджета от месячной оценки, соответствующей Федеральному закону о федеральном бюджете на 2017-2019 годы, в ноябре 2017 года прогнозируется в размере +125,8 млрд руб.

The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, through the Department of Commerce, announced today that the goods and services deficit was $43.5 billion in September, up $0.7 billion from $42.8 billion in August, revised. September exports were $196.8 billion, $2.1 billion more than August exports. September imports were $240.3 billion, $2.8 billion more than August imports.

The step to restructure debt comes as Venezuela stands to receive more revenue for its oil. The country’s crude oil basket price rose to CNY350.75 ($52.90) a barrel Friday, the highest since July 2015. And Venezuela did approve a $1.1 billion principal payment on a PDVSA bond on Thursday.