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.

Highlights • Revenue of $667 million • Operating income of $118 million • EBITDA of $354 million • 99% economic utilization • Reported net income of $127 million and diluted net income per share of $0.26 • Underlying net income, excluding non-recurring items and non-cash mark to market movements on derivatives, was $111 million and earnings per share was $0.24 • Cash and cash equivalents of $1.4 billion • Seadrill Limited order backlog of approximately $2.5 billion

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.

The United States is expected to become a net exporter of natural gas on an average annual basis by 2018. The transition to net exporter is driven by declining pipeline imports, growing pipeline exports, and increasing exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG). The United States is also projected to become a net exporter of total energy in the 2020s in large part because of increasing natural gas exports.

China is the global leader in methanol use and has recently expanded methanol production capacity. Since the early 2000s, China’s methanol consumption in fuel products has risen sharply and is estimated to have been more than 500,000 barrels per day (b/d) in 2016.

Profit attributable to NOVATEK shareholders increased by more than three-fold to RR 257.8 billion (RR 85.41 per share), as compared to RR 74.4 billion (RR 24.63 per share) in 2015. The amount of profit and its dynamics were significantly impacted by the foreign exchange effect (including at the joint ventures level), as well as the effect of the disposals of interests in joint ventures.

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.

U.S. Rig Count is up 237 rigs from last year's count of 514, with oil rigs up 184, gas rigs up 52, and miscellaneous rigs up 1. Canadian Rig Count is up 125 rigs from last year's count of 206, with oil rigs up 85 and gas rigs up 40.

U.S. oil production will up 80 tbd, gas production will up 524 mcfd.

U.S. Rig Count is up 200 rigs from last year's count of 541, with oil rigs up 152, gas rigs up 47, and miscellaneous rigs up 1. Canadian Rig Count is up 130 rigs from last year's count of 222, with oil rigs up 89 and gas rigs up 41.

Now the human drama watch begins; will Putin cave in to the demands of the West to renounce his allies in exchange for the improved relation and the dropping of sanctions?

Iran's crude oil and condensate exports rose 3% month on month in January as it continued to regain market share, widening its appeal among refiners around the globe in the process.

The average price of spot LNG imports to Japan contracted in January 2017 was $8.40/mn Btu, up from $8/mn Btu in December 2016, the ministry of economy, trade and industry (Meti) said February 9, their highest level for two years. But Japan's IEEJ says that prices have now peaked.