The worldwide rig count for May 2017 was 1,935, up 18 from the 1,917 counted in April 2017, and up 530 from the 1,405 counted in May 2016.

Brent crude prices LCOc1 were at $49.70 per barrel at 1351 GMT, down 42 cents. Brent is about 8 percent below its open on May 25, when OPEC and other producers agreed to extend oil output cuts through to the first quarter of 2018. U.S. light crude prices CLc1 were at $47.69 per barrel, down 50 cents.

Россия обладает технологиями, которые мы готовы предлагать за рубеж. Российские компании НК, Роснефть, Газпром нефть, ЛУКОЙЛ, Зарубежнефть, Газпром, Газпром и Татнефть активно интересуются возможностью работы в Иране. По нашим предварительным оценкам, объем инвестиций в нефтегазовый сектор Ирана может составить свыше 20 миллиардов долларов США.

EIA forecasts Brent spot prices to average $53/b in 2017 and $56/b in 2018.

The US Energy Information Administration lowered its crude-oil price forecast and raised its US production outlook for 2018. The lower price forecast reflects the possibility of a return to modest oversupply in global oil markets in 2018.

"We are willing to sit and talk," Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani told CNN late on Tuesday. He said his country was "protecting the world from potential terrorists".

Global benchmark Brent LCOc1 advanced 1.1 percent to $50.48 a barrel. U.S. oil CLc1 also climbed 1 percent to $48.17.

A crude price in the $50s is the new reality for bosses of some of the world’s largest producers as output caps from OPEC and its allies are balanced out by rising U.S. shale.

As oil prices sag despite OPEC’s renewed efforts to shore up world crude markets, Wall Street banks have more bad news for the producer group: the outlook for next year isn’t great either.

Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Management Committee of Gazprom, and Ben van Beurden, Chief Executive Officer of Royal Dutch Shell, signed at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2017 the Heads of Agreement to set up a joint venture.