Seadrill, one of the world’s largest offshore drilling companies, filed for bankruptcy after it secured agreement from nearly all of its banks to support a plan to inject $1bn in new capital and all but wipe out existing shareholders.

Preliminary production figures for August 2017 show an average daily production of 1 918 000 barrels of oil, NGL and condensate, which is a decrease of 41 000 barrels per day compared to July. Total gas sales were 10.4 billion Sm3 (GSm3), which is a decrease of 0.1 GSM3 from the previous month.

By 1021 GMT, international benchmark Brent crude LCOc1 was up 27 cents, or 0.5 percent, at $54.54 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) CLc1 was up 38 cents, or 0.8 percent, at $48.61 a barrel.

EIA forecasts Brent spot prices to average $51/b in 2017 and $52/b in 2018. Expected growth in natural gas exports and domestic natural gas consumption in 2018 contribute to the forecast Henry Hub natural gas spot price rising from an annual average of $3.05/MMBtu in 2017 to $3.29/MMBtu in 2018.

The OPEC Reference Basket rose for the second-consecutive month in August to average $49.60/b, representing a gain of $2.67/b or 6%. Year-to-date, the Basket was 30.9% higher at $49.73/b. Crude futures prices also saw gains with ICE Brent increasing 5.5% to $51.87/b and NYMEX WTI up 3.0% at $48.06/b. Year-to-date, crude futures prices were more than 20% higher. During the week of 29 August money managers cut WTI futures and options net long positions by 105,671 contracts to 147,303 lots, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said. Money managers slightly reduced Brent futures and options net length contracts by 1,296 to 416,551 lots during the same week.

IMF - When we think about Asia’s economic future, we know that this future is being built on strong foundations—on the richness and diversity of its cultures, on the incredible energy and ingenuity of the people who have changed the world by transforming their own economies. China and India have been driving the greatest poverty reduction in human history by creating the world’s largest middle classes. In a single generation, Vietnam has moved from being one of the world’s poorest nations to being a middle-income country.

We reiterate our commitment to a strong, quota-based, and adequately resourced IMF to preserve its role at the center of the Global Financial Safety Net. We support the work of the IMF to strengthen its cooperation with regional financing arrangements, and its ongoing work to further enhance the effectiveness of its lending toolkit.

U.S. crude for October delivery CLc1 was up 41 cents, or 0.9 percent, at $47.89 a barrel by 0648 GMT, having tumbled 3.3 percent on Friday. London Brent crude for November delivery LCOc1 was up 30 cents, or 0.6 percent, at $54.08, having settled down 1.3 percent.

CEFC China Energy is set to take a stake of almost $9bn in Russian state-controlled oil company Rosneft, in a major strengthening of energy ties between Beijing and Moscow as relations deteriorate with the west.

Iran says its crude oil production will reach 4.5 million barrels per day in a matter of a few years, end of the 6th five-year development plan to 2022.

“There was a request from our colleagues in Venezuela to carry out a restructuring,” Russian finance minister Anton Siluanov said. “There are difficulties in fulfilling the debt.”

Oil giant Saudi Aramco will on Wednesday add 1.9 million barrels (300,000 kilolitres) of crude to storage that it holds in Japan, a Japanese trade ministry official said.

India has won a big price cut on a 20-year liquefied natural gas (LNG) deal with global giant ExxonMobil Corp in a rare contract renegotiation, a bad sign for global producers in a heavily oversupplied market.

The worldwide rig count for August 2017 was 2,116, up 6 from the 2,110 counted in July 2017, and up 569 from the 1,547 counted in August 2016.

U.S. Rig Count is up 436 rigs from last year's count of 508, with oil rigs up 342, gas rigs up 95, and miscellaneous rigs down 1 to 1. Canada Rig Count is up 68 rigs from last year's count of 134, with oil rigs up 28 and gas rigs up 41, and miscellaneous rigs down 1 to 0.