International Brent crude futures were at $50.96 per barrel at 0646 GMT on Friday, up 19 cents, or 0.37 percent, from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $48.01 per barrel, up 18 cents, or 0.38 percent.

OPEC will decide formally whether to extend the cuts when its ministers meet in Vienna on May 25. The producer group and other major suppliers including Russia agreed last year to cut their collective production by about 1.8 million barrels a day for the first half of 2017 in an effort to reduce bloated global stockpiles and re-balance the market.

Private investment in U.S. natural gas and oil infrastructure could create over 1 million U.S. jobs.

Iran said that it has plans to increase its crude oil production capacity by 3 million barrels per day.

Managing Director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Ali Kardor said Iran has so far recovered 1,060 billion cubic meters of natural gas from the supergiant South Pars Gas Field, adding the recovery has fetched Iran over 191 billion dollars in revenue.

Iran plans to strike $80 billion worth of oil contracts over coming two years as the country is set to implement newly-developed IPC contracts, a deputy head of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) said

Group results  Adjusted operating profit: €1.83 billion, up by 215% or €1.25 billion, vs first quarter of 2016  Adjusted net profit: €0.74 billion (up by €0.74 billion vs the first quarter of 2016)  Net profit: €0.97 billion  Strong cash generation: €1.93 billion, up by 41% vs the first quarter of 2016; €2.60 billion before changes in working capital at replacement cost, up by 76%  Capex: €2.83 billion (€2.42 billion on a pro-forma1 basis), in line with our strategy to bring cashgenerative projects on stream in 2017  Disposals agreed in the first quarter of 2017 of €2.9 billion, approximately 60% of the minimum target planned for the 2017-2020 four-year period  Net debt: €14.9 billion, in line with the end of 2016  Leverage at March 31, 2017: stable at 0.28

Brent LCOc1 was 60 cents higher at $50.82 a barrel by 1255 GMT (8.55 a.m. ET) after hitting an early high of $51.09. U.S. light crude oil CLc1 was last up 60 cents at $47.93.

Средняя цена нефти марки Urals по итогам января – апреля 2017 года составила $ 51,84 за баррель. В 2016 году средняя цена на Urals в январе – апреля составила $ 33,93 за баррель. Средняя цена на нефть марки Urals в апреле 2017 года сложилась в размере $ 51,11 за баррель, что в 1,28 раза выше, чем в марте 2016 года ($39,63 за баррель).

Construction of the TurkStream gas pipeline was commenced in the Black Sea near the Russian coast.