U.S. oil production down 118 tbd, natural gas production down 476 mcfd.

PetroChina Co., the nation’s biggest producer, said in March it expects oil and gas output to fall the first time in 17 years as it shuts fields that have “no hope” of turning a profit, while Cnooc Ltd. sees output slipping as much as 5.2 percent this year.

The decline of 120,000 barrels a day, to 2.37 million barrels a day, underscores the inability of state energy company Petróleos de Venezuela SA to maintain oil-industry investments, as the region’s largest petroleum exporter suffers from a debilitating cash crunch, widespread food shortages and civil unrest.

The Indonesian government has proposed to the parliament revising down the country's 2016 crude oil production target by 2.4% to 810,000 b/d, from the initial target of 830,000 b/d, as some producers had reduced their output levels due to lower global prices,

“South Africa’s oil refineries are not ready and will not be ready to produce Euro 4 standard fuel, let alone Euro 6, which the world is moving to by 2017 or 2020 in preparation for the introduction of more fuel-efficient vehicles,” he said in an opinion piece in Johannesburg-based Business Report newspaper Tuesday. “Our present crude-oil stocks are suitable for producing products of lower specifications, which means we need to stockpile higher-quality grades of crude oil.”

US crude oil production in March averaged 9.127 million b/d, down from 9.133 million b/d in February and 9.648 million b/d in March 2015.

Russia’s crude production continuing to grow this year by around 100,000 b/d or even slightly above this figure. The growth is supported by investments made in previous years.

Saudi Arabia has been fighting with fellow OPEC members since the oil rout started two years ago. For the first time next week, it can argue convincingly that its strategy of squeezing rival producers is succeeding.

Nigeria's crude oil and condensate production has fallen almost 50% from the start of the year to around 1.1 million b/d.

Oil companies operating in Norway expect to spend 153.2 billion kroner ($18.47 billion) on exploration and production next year, the weakest figure since 2011 and nearly a third below the sector’s all-time high of NOK220.7 billion two years ago. In 2016, they expect to spend NOK165.9 billion on exploration and production, down from NOK195.4 billion a year earlier and 1% below a similar estimate made in February.