Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC), a leading company in the coordination of planning, purchasing and providing of water and electricity across the UAE, has announced that ‘Noor Abu Dhabi’, the world’s largest single solar project, with a capacity of 1,177MW, has started commercial operation.

U.S. Rig Count is unchanged from from last week at 967, with oil rigs up 4 to 793, gas rigs down 4 to 173, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 1. Canada Rig Count is up 5 rigs from last week to 124, with oil rigs up 4 to 84 and gas rigs up 1 to 40.

Brent crude futures were down 35 cents, or 0.5%, at $66.20 per barrel, WTI crude CLc1 futures were down 30 cents, or 0.5%, at $59.13 a barrel.

The countries signed an $8.3 billion economic cooperation pact that included a $6 billion deal between Saudi Aramco and the Korean company S-Oil to build an oil refinery and downstream petrochemical facilities in South Korea.

Mexican state oil company Pemex [PEMX.UL] signed an $8 billion syndicated loan with more than 20 banks to renew credit lines and refinance liabilities, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Thursday.

A gradual economic recovery is underway. Recent increases in wages, pensions, and social assistance; and measures to reduce tax and debt burdens are expected to boost nonoil growth to 2.7 percent over the near term.

Economic growth in Bangladesh continues to be strong. Robust private consumption pushed real GDP growth close to 8 percent in FY2018, while inflation increased slightly, due mainly to higher food prices.

Brent crude was down 11 cents at $66.38 by 1321 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 26 cents to $59.12.

Eliminating fossil fuels from the U.S. power sector, a key goal of the “Green New Deal” backed by many Democratic presidential candidates, would cost $4.7 trillion and pose massive economic and social challenges, according to a report released on Thursday by energy research firm Wood Mackenzie.

In April 2019, U.S. monthly electricity generation from renewable sources exceeded coal-fired generation for the first time