BP has agreed to sell its interests in Gulf of Suez oil concessions in Egypt to Dragon Oil, the Dubai-based oil and gas company. Under the terms of the agreement, Dragon Oil will purchase producing and exploration concessions, including BP’s interest in the Gulf of Suez Petroleum Company (GUPCO).

Front-month Brent crude futures were at $60.96 at 0844 GMT, down $1.03 or 1.7% below Friday’s close. Prices had dropped by more than 3% on Friday, with May recording the biggest monthly loss in six months. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $52.98 per barrel, down 52 cents, or 1%.

Saudi Arabia produced 9.65 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil in May, a Saudi industry source said, a deeper cut than its target set by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia, a group known as OPEC+.

The production fall resulted mainly from the closure due to oil contamination of Russia’s Druzhba pipeline, which usually ships 1 million bpd, or 1 percent of global oil demand.

Aramco hiked the July price differential for its flagship Arab Light grade by 60 cents/b to a premium of $2.70/b to the average of Oman/Dubai, the highest since January 2014, when it was a premium of $3.75/b to Oman/Dubai.

In March 2019, for the 23rd consecutive month, dry natural gas production increased year to year for the month. The preliminary level for dry natural gas production in March 2019 was 2,771 billion cubic feet (Bcf), or 89.4 Bcf/d. This level was 9.2 Bcf/d (11.5%) higher than the March 2018 level of 80.2 Bcf/d.

The yield on 10-year rupee sovereign debt fell as much as 9 basis points to 6.94% after data late Friday showed gross domestic product rose 5.8% last quarter from a year earlier.

The transaction, among other things, will give Total control over 2.2 million mt/year of LNG to be produced by the third train at the Freeport LNG export terminal in Texas. The facility is currently preparing to begin production from its first train, after several construction- and weather-related delays hampered the project.

Looking ahead, growth is expected to moderate to a more sustainable level of 4.6 percent in 2019 and stabilize at 4.5 percent over the medium term. The authorities are aiming for higher medium-term growth supported by reform.

BHGE - U.S. Rig Count is up 1 rig from last week to 984, with oil rigs up 3 to 800, gas rigs down 2 to 184, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 0. Canada Rig Count is up 7 rigs from last week to 85, with oil rigs up 6 to 44 and gas rigs up 1 to 41.