U.S. Rig Count is up 1 rig from last week to 464, with oil rigs up 7 to 381, gas rigs down 5 to 81, and miscellaneous rigs down 1 to 2. Canadian Rig Count is up 3 rigs from last week to 122, with oil rigs unchanged at 60, gas rigs up 2 to 60, and miscellaneous rigs up 1 to 2.

Employment in oil and natural gas production reached a high of 538,000 jobs in October 2014. Since then, oil and natural gas production employment declined 26%, a loss of more than 142,000 jobs through May 2016, based on the latest jobs data available. The total decrease in production jobs is nearly three times the 51,000 jobs lost over a 13-month period during the 2008–09 recession.

The deficit rose to $44.5 billion in June, 8.7 percent higher than a revised May deficit of $41 billion, the Commerce Department reported Friday. It was the biggest gap between what America sells abroad and what the country imports since a $44.6 billion deficit last August.

In common with other oil companies, the European trio are looking to divest non-core assets to help shore up their balance sheets and defend dividends at a time of mounting pressure from the prolonged weakness in oil prices.

"Growth in China's fuel exports will be strong throughout the third quarter," a Beijing-based trader said. "Refiners are starting to tighten crude runs as well as increase exports to balance the surplus in the domestic market."

China is a huge opportunity and a priority market for Azerbaijan. More than 50 agreements have been signed between the two countries so far. Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation has recently opened a representative office in China to support and encourage relations between the two countries' businessmen, as well as expand Azerbaijan's exports to the Chinese market and attract China's leading investment funds to the Azerbaijan economy.

During the visit, President Rouhani attended trilateral talks among Iran, Russia and Azerbaijan and conferred with his Russian and Azeri counterparts on expansion of trilateral cooperation in commerce, energy, telecommunications, environment, fight against terrorism, transportation and transit of goods.

The worldwide rig count for July 2016 was 1,481, up 74 from the 1,407 counted in June 2016, and down 686 from the 2,167 counted in July 2015.

Debt levels are currently rising at an annual rate of 11.5 percent, more than double the 5.1 percent witnessed between 2009 and 2014.

Iran is introducing a new contract framework for its energy deals to sweeten them for foreign financiers.