IMF - advancing decisively on the structural reform agenda to improve growth potential and rebalance growth towards non-commodity sectors.

Saudi Arabia will go into the meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC producers in Vienna on May 25 determined to maximize its oil revenue through high prices, even if it must make large production cuts in return.

Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) earned about $433 billion in net oil export revenues in 2016, the lowest since 2004. In real dollar terms, the 2016 revenue represents a 15% decline from the $509 billion earned in 2015, mainly because of the fall in average annual crude oil prices and, to a lesser extent, because of decreases in OPEC net oil exports.

U.S. Rig Count is up 497 rigs from last year's count of 404, with oil rigs up 402, gas rigs up 95, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged. Canadian Rig Count is up 41 rigs from last year's count of 44, with oil rigs up 20, gas rigs up 22, and miscellaneous rigs down 1 to 0.

Algerian energy minister Noureddine Boutarfa said Thursday he believes there is a consensus among countries participating in the OPEC/non-OPEC oil production cut deal regarding the necessity to extend the agreement by nine months through March 2018.

Total petroleum deliveries in April moved up by 1.7 percent from April 2016 to average 19.6 million barrels per day. These were the highest April deliveries in nine years, since 2008. Compared with March, total domestic petroleum deliveries, a measure of U.S. petroleum demand, decreased 0.3 percent. For year to date, total domestic petroleum deliveries moved up slightly by 0.1 percent compared to the same period last year to average 19.4 million barrels per day.

The recent steps to increase the transparency of fiscal policy through the publication of the Fiscal Balance Program and the First Quarter Budget Report are very welcome. This greater transparency will help private businesses and investors better plan their investment and employment decisions.

China's attempt to test marine natural gas hydrates, a future energy source, has turned out to be a success, making it the first country to secure continuous and stable gas supply in marine gas hydrate exploitation, according to the Ministry of Land and Resources.

Preliminary production figures for April 2017 show an average daily production of 2 111 000 barrels of oil, NGL and condensate, which is an decrease of 38 000 barrels per day (approx. 2 percent) compared to March.

Brent crude was up 50 cents at $52.15 per barrel by 1330 GMT. U.S. light crude rose 39 cents to $49.05.

India is a major contributor to the growth in global liquid fuels consumption. Total liquid fuels consumption in India grew 8% in 2016, the largest increase since 2009, to an estimated 4.35 million barrels per day (b/d).

Стороны обсудили взаимодействие на рынке нефти в рамках Декларации о кооперации по добровольной корректировке объемов добычи. Алжирская сторона поддержала совместное заявление Александра Новака и Министра промышленности и минеральных ресурсов Саудовской Аравии Халида Аль-Фалиха от 15 мая с.г. по продлению совместных добровольных действий ведущих производителей нефти на 9 месяцев – до 31 марта 2018 г.

Rosneft and Eni S.p.A. entered into a Cooperation extension agreement in the areas of upstream, refining, marketing and trading during the visit of an Italian delegation to Russia. The document was signed by Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin and Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni.

Проекты нескольких интеграционных инициатив - Один пояс, один путь, Северный морской путь, ЕАЭС, АСЕАН - вместе могли бы создать каркас будущей Евразии

Looking at 2Q17, if we assume that April’s OPEC crude oil production level of 31.8 mb/d is maintained, and nothing changes elsewhere in the balance, there is an implied stock draw of 0.7 mb/d. Adopting the same scenario approach for the second half of 2017, the stock draws are likely to be even greater. Even if this turns out to be the case, stocks at the end of 2017 might not have fallen to the five-year average, suggesting that much work remains to be done in the second half of 2017 to drain them further. In addition to production cuts and steady demand growth, a major contribution to falling crude stocks in the next few months will be a ramp-up in global crude oil runs. Starting in March, refinery activity is building up and by July global crude throughputs will have increased by 2.7 mb/d.