MEOG - Saudi Arabia's Council of Ministers approved its 2019 budget, the largest in the Kingdom's history. It has planned to spend $295bn in the coming year, and estimates revenue at $260bn. Deficit is therefore estimated at $35bn, down 32% from the expected deficit for 2018, $52bn. Actual deficit in 2018 sat at $36.2bn.

ADNOC - The Abu Dhabi government and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) have awarded Austria's OMV a 5 percent stake in the Ghasha ultra-sour gas concession that comprises the Hail, Ghasha, Dalma, Nasr, Sarb and Mubarraz sour gas fields.

BHGE - U.S. Rig Count is up 9 rigs from last week to 1,080, with oil rigs up 10 to 883 and gas rigs down 1 to 197. Canada Rig Count is down 43 rigs from last week to 131, with oil rigs down 37 to 58 and gas rigs down 6 to 73.

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 .

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.

MEOG - In the oil and gas industry, technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IOT), machine learning and big data can serve operators by increasing productivity and streamlining processes, all while helping them attract and retain talent, and remain secure and compliant.

REUTERS - Qatar Petroleum (QP) is looking to invest at least $20 billion in the United States over the coming few years, its chief executive told Reuters, after the Gulf Arab state unexpectedly quit OPEC this month.