West Texas Intermediate for May delivery rose as much as 38 cents to $52.62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $52.38 at 12:21 p.m. in Hong Kong, on course for its highest close since March 7. Total volume traded was about 2 percent above the 100-day average. The contract gained 54 cents to $52.24 on Friday. Brent for June settlement climbed as much as 28 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $55.52 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Prices increased 35 cents to $55.24 on Friday. The global benchmark crude was at a premium of $2.55 to June WTI.

Министр экономического развития Российской Федерации Максим Орешкин отметил, что за первый квартал рост нефтегазовых доходов в бюджете составил более 50%. «Нефтегазовые доходы остаются основой бюджета. С точки зрения развития экономики в 2016 год мы вошли на позитивном тренде: потребление электроэнергии устойчиво растет, на 2% в год, это свидетельствует о том, что экономика движется вперед», - подчеркнул Максим Орешкин.

Максим Орешкин: В топливно-энергетическом комплексе в ближайшие годы преград для экономического роста не будет

Iran’s crude oil export to India for the fiscal year 2016-2017 increased to 540,000 barrels per day showing a three-fold rise in comparison with the preceding year.

Peak electricity demand has grown nearly 13% over the past two years as a growing middle class seeks new services, such as air conditioning, which continue to place higher demands on the system. Over the next 25 years, energy demand is expected to more than double as a result.

Ukraine's transit of Russian oil for exports to Europe in March rose 42% year on year to 1.25 million mt, state oil shipper UkrTransNafta said

API announced today that estimated total wells drilled and completed in the first quarter of 2017 saw an increase of 35 percent compared to the first quarter of 2016. This is a drastic improvement from 2016 levels which saw a 59 percent decrease in total wells drilled and completed from the previous year.

U.S. Rig Count is up 396 rigs from last year's count of 443, with oil rigs up 318, gas rigs up 76, and miscellaneous rigs up 2. Canadian Rig Count is up 91 rigs from last year's count of 41, with oil rigs up 34 and gas rigs up 57.

China was the top foreign buyer of US crude in February, according to data that show the growing interdependence of the world’s big energy-consuming nations at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions.

One of the most important events in the energy field was held in Moscow. The name of the Global Energy Prize laureate was announced during the international press conference. In 2017 the prestigious award goes to Michael Graetzel (Switzerland) “for transcendent merits in development of low cost and efficient solar cells, known as “Graetzel cells”, aimed to creation of cost-efficient, large-scale engineering solutions for power generation”. He will receive a golden medal and RUB 39 million (approximately $ 693 000).