The squeeze puts further pressure on the shale industry to sell assets, cut jobs and drilling and shrink capital spending. It also raises the risk that more companies will tip into bankruptcy.

U.S. Rig Count is down 7 rigs from last week to 443, with oil rigs down 8 to 354, and gas rigs up 1 to 89. Canadian Rig Count is down 8 rigs from last week to 41, with oil rigs down 3 to 8, and gas rigs down 5 to 33.

Europe became a low-priced ‘market of last resort’ for the global LNG trade, with most world supply growth absorbed by the region -- up 16% at 83.15mn mt, as net imports recovered thanks in part to a 31% fall in re-exports – but imports by the Middle East also grew.

"The level of $45-50 (per barrel) is acceptable from the point of view of market balance: if prices go higher shale oil production could start to recover."

Oil-producing countries can come to an agreement capping crude production at January levels even if Iran doesn’t join the move to help shore up prices.

Oil at $35 a barrel is neither too high nor too low but just right to make shares of U.S. explorers worth buying, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

The cumulative effect suggests that for U.S. growth over the next three years, there's no difference between oil at $30 or $70 per barrel. How the trade balance responds to swings in crude will dictate which path is more desirable.

State-run Saudi Arabian Oil Co. increased its official selling price for May Light, Medium and Heavy sales to U.S. buyers by 40 cents a barrel, the company said in an e-mailed statement Tuesday. Extra Light crude will sell at a premium of $2.60 a barrel to the regional benchmark, 75 cents higher than the differential in April. For the U.S., the benchmark is the Argus Sour Crude Index.

Front month U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were trading at $38.02 per barrel at 0653 GMT, up 76 cents, or 2 percent, from their last close. International Brent futures were up 60 cents at $40.03 a barrel.

Gas shall play a more important role, with more shares in the total Chinese primary energy mix. And, the Chinese natural gas market is at a turning point, as indicated by many experts at Gastech 2015’s conference. The Chinese gas industry is facing many challenges also because of gas demand contraction due to the new normal Chinese economy. In the previous 10-15 years, we had double digit gas demand growth, but in 2014-2015 it was only single digits. Last year it was only 8.6%. This year, in the last 3 quarters, the growth was only 2.7%.

Year-to-date, the goods and services deficit increased $10.8 billion, or 13.1 percent, from the same period in 2015. Exports decreased $20.5 billion or 5.5 percent. Imports decreased $9.7 billion or 2.1 percent.

Prices, which have swung between highs of about $42 a barrel and lows of about $27 this year, will continue to be volatile in the short term, Al Jaber said in an interview with Abu Dhabi dailies The National and Al Ittihad.

In 2015, LUKOIL Group total hydrocarbon production increased by 2.8 % y-o-y and reached 2.379 million boe per day. Crude oil production* increased by 3.6 % y-o-y to 100.7 million tons.

Natural gas consumption in the 28-nation European Union grew by some 4% last year to 426.3bn m3, according to latest estimates from Eurogas, the trade association representing 43 gas wholesale and distribution companies.

U.S. Rig Count is down 14 rigs from last week to 450, with oil rigs down 10 to 362, and gas rigs down 4 to 88. Canadian Rig Count is down 6 rigs from last week to 49, with oil rigs unchanged at 11, and gas rigs down 6 to 38.