Crude oil flows from the Kirkuk fields in northern Iraq were briefly disrupted on Thursday after a Kurdish faction seized a pumping facility in protest at the policies of Baghdad and Erbil, adding a new threat to Iraq’s attempts to comply with Opec’s agreed cuts.

Exports in January expanded 13.6 percent from a year earlier, the biggest gain since October 2015, but just missing the 15.0 percent increase forecast. In December, exports rose 10.7 percent. Data from the International Trade and Industry Ministry showed exports of mining goods increased 18.8 percent on stronger demand for crude oil and liquefied natural gas.

The LUKOIL Group oil production for the fourth quarter and twelve months of 2016 was 22.7 and 92.0 million tonnes, respectively. Production for the fourth quarter excluding compensation crude oil from West Qurna-2 project in Iraq increased by 2.5% compared to the third quarter of 2016.

Benchmark Brent crude oil was down 50 cents a barrel at $55.86 by 1125 GMT. U.S. light crude was 50 cents lower at $53.33.

Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 1.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016. In the third quarter, real GDP increased 3.5 percent.

ExxonMobil anticipates capital spending of $22 billion in 2017, an increase of 16 percent from 2016. Capital and exploration expenses through the end of the decade will average $25 billion annually.

Light, sweet crude oil prices for April dropped modestly Feb. 24 but still settled at about $54/bbl on Feb. 24 on the New York market despite a climbing US rig count. The US oil futures benchmark has traded at $50-55/bbl for weeks.

The growing world economy will require more energy, but consumption is expected to grow less quickly than in the past - at 1.3% per year over the Outlook period (2015-2035) compared with 2.2% per year in 1995-2015.

Iran will begin exporting 100,000b/d of crude oil to Russia within the next two week, Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh said.

U.S. crude oil production increased for the second consecutive month in November 2016, the first time this has occurred since early 2015. Increased drilling activity in the Permian region, which spans Texas and New Mexico, as well as the start of a number of new projects in the Federal Offshore Gulf of Mexico (GOM), more than offset declining production from other regions in October and November 2016.