The Brent crude contract for July on London's ICE was up $1.14 to $48.97/bbl. The August contract gained $1.29 to $49.43/bbl. The June gas oil contract gained $11.50 to $430.25/tonne.

"[Oil’s recent rise] is not enough," said Dicker. "You can’t find the financing to keep the lights on at $50 oil. Most of these guys won’t be able to keep the lights on at $65 or $70 oil."

Many companies on the teetering on the brink of insolvency find themselves buried under high interest rates and lack of deployable capital due to low commodity prices. Many banks have cut oil company credit lines as part of the semi-annual review by lenders. But the combined $8.9 billion in debt between the eighteen companies still looms ever menacingly in the background.

Crude oil production in June from the seven major US shale regions is expected to fall 113,000 b/d month-over-month to 4.85 million b/d. Gas production from the regions is forecast to fall 464 MMcfd.

Oil and gas producers depend largely on bank credit lines to run their businesses. Cmpanies getting ready to restructure are working closely with their bankers before filing for bankruptcy.

As the number of failed operators mounts, the surviving companies are laying the groundwork for what they forecast will be an era of slower but steadier growth in the state at the epicenter of the U.S.’s energy boom.

State-controlled Petróleo Brasileiro SA raised $6.75 billion on Tuesday from a sale of five- and 10-year dollar-denominated bonds, in a closely watched return to global debt markets after the suspension of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.

Malaysia's national oil company (NOC) Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS) posted a profit after tax of $1.1 billion (MYR 4.6 billion) for the first quarter of 2016 (1Q 2016) that ended March 31, down 60 percent from $2.8 billion (MYR 11.4 billion) recorded in the same period last year, while revenue fell 26 percent to $12.1 billion (MYR 49.1 billion) from $16.3 billion (MYR 66.2 billion) in the corresponding period, financial results released Wednesday by the firm showed.

Chevron Corp on Tuesday said it will slash its budget by at least 17% for the next two years to save cash due to the low crude oil prices.

China is Russia’s biggest single trade partner, with its share rising to 12.8 percent from 12 percent in 2015. Even so, the overall turnover of goods fell by 26 percent last year to $68.1 billion. That means the countries are far off reaching their target of $100 billion in trade.

Perhaps the biggest hurdle is Russia’s business climate. While frequently fodder for criticism, there’s progress. Russia has surged by 61 spots in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index since 2013 to 51st this year.

The head of Russian oil major Lukoil said on Wednesday that he sees oil prices rising above $50 per barrel by the end of the year, RIA news agency reported, citing his TV interview.

Global oil demand growth for 1Q16 was revised upwards to 1.4 mb/d, led higher by strong gains in India, China and, more surprisingly, Russia. For the year as a whole, growth will be around 1.2 mb/d, with demand reaching 95.9 mb/d.

World oil demand in 2015 grew by around 1.54 mb/d, unchanged from last month’s report. Total oil consumption averaged 92.98 mb/d. In 2016, world oil demand is projected to rise by 1.20 mb/d to reach 94.18 mb/d, unchanged from last month’s projections, despite upward revisions to Other Asia, which were counterbalanced by downward revisions to Latin America and China.

The July crude oil contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained $1.66 to $47.01/bbl.The Brent crude contract for July on London’s ICE jumped $2.08 to $47.60/bbl. The August contract climbed $2.02 to $48.03/bbl.