“We are working on preserving our traditional markets and we will supply those markets with oil in a competitive battle,” Igor Sechin, Rosneft chief executive officer said in London today.

Brent crude oil prices are forecast to average $38/b in 2016 and $50/b in 2017.

“To develop the joint fields and enhance recovery of oil reservoirs as well as secure development targets, we need investment totaling 200 billion dollars,”

The 19th GCC summit took place amid the last great slump in oil prices, when crude had fallen to just $10 per barrel, worth around $14 today after adjusting for inflation.

North American oil and natural gas drillers will need to cut an additional 30 percent from their capital budgets to balance their spending with the cash coming in their doors even if crude rises to $40 a barrel, according to an analysis by IHS Inc.A group of 44 North American exploration and production companies are planning to spend $78 billion on capital projects this year, down from $101 billion last year.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 82 points, or 0.5 percent, to 15,944 as of 12:18 p.m. Eastern Time. The Standard & Poor’s 500 slipped eight points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,844. The Nasdaq composite fell 17 points, or 0.4 percent, to 4,266. Stocks posted steep slides Monday and Friday.

The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, through the Department of Commerce, announced today that the goods and services deficit was $43.4 billion in December, up $1.1 billion from $42.2 billion in November, revised. December exports were $181.5 billion, $0.5 billion less than November exports. December imports were $224.9 billion, up $0.6 billion from November.

It appears the administration’s last year is dedicated to furthering an extremist agenda at the very real expense of the middle class and low-income families, through tax hikes on energy and a barrage of unnecessary and duplicative regulations that are catering to the well-funded, radical whims of ‘leave it in the ground’ activists.

Crude oil production in March from seven major US shale plays is expected to fall 92,000 b/d to 4.92 million b/d.

Based on those trends, and even with the prospective increase in Iranian production, the oil market is likely to move closer into balance by the latter part of this year. That will still leave a significant inventory overhang that will take some time to work off. But it seems likely that the market will show at least some signs of turning by the end of this year.