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.

U.S. Rig Count is up 252 rigs from last year's count of 502, with oil rigs up 202, gas rigs up 49, and miscellaneous rigs up 1. Canadian Rig Count is up 166 rigs from last year's count of 175, with oil rigs up 123 and gas rigs up 43.

Preliminary production figures for January 2017 show an average daily production of about 2 024 000 barrels of oil, NGL and condensate. This is 42 000 barrels per day (about 2 percent) less than December 2016.