Aramco hiked the July price differential for its flagship Arab Light grade by 60 cents/b to a premium of $2.70/b to the average of Oman/Dubai, the highest since January 2014, when it was a premium of $3.75/b to Oman/Dubai.

BHGE - U.S. Rig Count is up 1 rig from last week to 984, with oil rigs up 3 to 800, gas rigs down 2 to 184, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 0. Canada Rig Count is up 7 rigs from last week to 85, with oil rigs up 6 to 44 and gas rigs up 1 to 41.

Front-month Brent crude futureswere at $65.72 at 0844 GMT, down $1.15 from last session’s close. WTI crude futures were at $55.85 per barrel, down 74 cents from their last settlement.

UK oil production rose by nearly 9% on the year in the first quarter of 2019 to 1.18 million b/d, continuing a half-decade revival and beating industry expectations, government statistics released Thursday showed.

Brent crude futures were at $69.03 per barrel at 1325 GMT, down 42 cents, or 0.6%, from their last close. WTI crude futures were up 23 cents, or 0.4%, at $59.04 a barrel, supported by expectations of a fall in U.S. crude inventories.

To put these two things together, the shale oil affecting both the volume of export and the price, plus the developments in clean technologies, tell me that for those countries who meet in Vienna, it has never been more important for them to diversify their economies. We have seen in Algeria, for example, one of the main reasons is the low oil price and the impact on the economy, and the same with Venezuela and elsewhere.

Russia’s recent oil output is below the 11.18 billion bpd target Moscow has pledged as part of an international deal among producers to curb production to support prices.

Brazil has seen its exports of crude grow from 734,000 b/d in 2015 to 1.3 million b/d in Q1 of this year. In contrast, Mexico, which was once a powerhouse of oil production, has maintained its export status only through curtailment of domestic refining, not increased crude oil output.

Profit attributable to shareholders totaled RUB 149.2 bln, up 36.8% year-on-year. The growth was restrained with higher DD&A due to the launch of new production facilities.

Front-month Brent crude futures were at $69.53 a barrel at 0641 GMT, down 58 cents, or 0.8%, from last session’s close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $58.46 per barrel, down 70 cents, or 1.2%, from their last settlement.