REUTERS - Saudi Aramco plans to boost investments in refining and petrochemicals to secure new markets for its crude, and sees growth in chemicals as central to its downstream strategy to lessen the risk of a slowdown in oil demand.

REUTERS - Canada’s oil output is set to rise 33 percent by 2035, driven almost entirely by higher oil sands production, but without new export pipelines Canadian producers will continue to be excluded from emerging markets, an industry group said

REUTERS - OPEC and U.S. representatives have met at least twice this year, with a third high-profile meeting set for Vienna next week. Finding the optimal balance of crude supply and demand will be the hot topic.

REUTERS - Brent crude LCOc1 was down 30 cents at $75.58 a barrel by 1000 GMT. U.S. light crude CLc1 was 15 cents lower at $66.21.

BLOOMBERG - The nation boosted crude supply to the highest in 14 months in the first week of June as some companies breached their caps, said a person with knowledge of the matter. While both the Kremlin and oil bosses remain publicly committed to the accord, production of 11.09 million barrels a day exceeds the 10.95 million limit agreed with OPEC, the official said.

BLOOMBERG - Saudi Arabia, which along with Russia is trying to garner support for lifting output limits, told the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries that its daily production rose 162,000 barrels a day to 10.030 million in May compared with the previous month, a person with knowledge of the data said, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public.

EIA - Brent crude oil spot prices averaged $77 per barrel (b) in May, an increase of $5/b from the April level and the highest monthly average price since November 2014. EIA forecasts Brent spot prices will average $71/b in 2018 and $68/b in 2019. The 2019 forecast price is $2/b higher than in the May STEO. EIA expects West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices will average almost $7/b lower than Brent prices in 2018 and $6/b lower than Brent prices in 2019

BAKER HUGHES A GE - U.S. Rig Count is up 2 rigs from last week to 1,062, with oil rigs up 1 to 862, gas rigs up 1 to 198 and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 2. Canada Rig Count is up 13 rigs from last week to 112, with oil rigs up 13 to 69 and gas rigs unchanged at 43.

REUTERS - Brent crude futures LCOc1, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $76.79 per barrel at 0654 GMT, down 53 cents, or 0.7 percent, from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were down 38 cents, or 0.6 percent, at $65.57 a barrel.

OPEC - World oil demand averaged 97.20 mb/d in 2017, up by 1.7 per cent y-o-y, with the largest increases taking place in Asia and Pacific region (particularly China and India), Europe and North America. The 2017 oil demand in Africa and the Middle East grew by around 100,000 b/d, as compared to 2016, while oil demand declined in Latin America for the third year in a row.