BHGE - U.S. Rig Count is up 57 rigs from last year's count of 981, with oil rigs up 43 and gas rigs up 14. Canada Rig Count is down 91 rigs from last year's count of 302, with oil rigs down 71 and gas rigs down 20.

Oil prices climbed on Friday as markets tightened amid output cuts by producer club OPEC, but surging U.S. supply and concerns of global economic slowdown kept a lid on further gains.

The next 10-15 years will be a period of stable development for the oil industry and prices will remain relatively high at $60-$70/b, the CEO of Lukoil, Russia's second-largest crude producer, said Wednesday.

Brent crude oil spot prices averaged $59 per barrel (b) in January, up $2/b from December 2018 but $10/b lower than the average in January of last year.

MEOG - Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser gave a speech at London Petroleum Week about the oil and gas industry's future--or, rather its perceived lack of a future. He addressed what he called a "worrying and growing belief among policy makers and regulators, investment houses, NGOs, and many others that we are an industry with little or no future."

Novatek’s Chief Financial Officer Mark Gyetvay said the company would build all equipment and technology in Russia to protect itself. “We will not hold ourselves hostage to U.S. sanctions,” he told the IP Week conference in London.

Russia delivered a record amount of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe in February, becoming the biggest supplier of the chilled fuel to the continent for the first time.

U.S. BEA - Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018, according to the "initial" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the third quarter, real GDP increased 3.4 percent.

RECHARGE - The EU will spend up to €10bn ($11.37bn) supporting innovative low-carbon technologies in sectors such as renewables and energy storage over the next decade, said the European Commission.

The leaders of South Korea and the United Arab Emirates have said the two countries will seek opportunities to cooperate in the field of nuclear energy beyond their current collaboration on the Barakah nuclear power plant project. This will include opportunities in third countries.