Despite the classic “wildcatting” image of plucky entrepreneurs trying their luck, smaller, independent drillers are losing access to capital

Investments are now seen at a four-year high of 183.7 billion Norwegian crowns ($21.11 billion) in 2019, up from the 172.7 billion crowns seen in February, according to SSB, which collects the data from oil firms.

Canada is the second-largest importer of energy from the United States, in terms of trade value, behind only Mexico. Energy accounted for $84 billion, or 26%, of the value of all U.S. imports from Canada in 2018.

Spot Brent crude futures were firmer at $68.82 per barrel, 13 cents, or 0.2%, above their last close. WTI crude futures were at $58.43 per barrel at 0700 GMT, down 20 cents, or 0.3%, from their last settlement.

Venezuela's state-owned PDVSA exported 1.416 million barrels of combined crude and products in May to Cuba's state Cubametales, up from 355,000 barrels in April.

"Oilfield services companies will no longer be able to generate the high operating margins they did in 2014," Carin Dehne-Kiley, an analyst at S&P, wrote Friday in a report to investors. "The oilfield services industry has fundamentally changed due to permanent efficiency and productivity gains realized by E&P companies as well as investor sentiment calling for E&P companies to live within cash flow and limit production growth."

BHGE - U.S. Rig Count is down 4 rigs from last week to 983, with oil rigs down 5 to 797, gas rigs up 1 to 186, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 0. Canada Rig Count is up 15 rigs from last week to 78, with oil rigs up 16 to 38 and gas rigs down 1 to 40.

Brent crude futures were at $68.48 per barrel at 0654 GMT, up 72 cents, or 1.1%, from their last close, with prices underpinned by OPEC supply cuts and Middle East tensions. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 66 cents, or 1.1%, at $58.57 per barrel.

Although compliance to the cuts had a slow start, OPEC's JMMC noted in a press release following their meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, that compliance had hit a record high of 168% in April 2019. Average conformity reached 120% since January 2019.

Russia’s GDP unexpectedly grew just 0.5% in the first quarter, below all 14 estimates in a Bloomberg survey. That compares with a 2.7% increase in the last three months of 2018, which was the highest in more than six years as crude output reached a record 11.45mn barrels a day in December, according to ministry data as Opec+ curbs eased.