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.

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.

Cooperation will focus on grid planning, fundamental research, policy coordination, project development and information sharing, according to the deals signed between GEIDCO and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, the African Union Commission, the League of Arab States and the grid management bureau with the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf.

Crude oil production from the seven major US onshore producing regions is forecast to rise 122,000 b/d month-over-month in June to average 5.401 million b/d. Gas production from the seven regions is forecast to gain 557 MMcfd month-over-month in June to 51.316 bcfd.

The United States welcomes China, as well as any of our trading partners, to receive imports of LNG from the United States. The United States treats China no less favorably than other non-FTA trade partners with regard to LNG export authorizations. Companies from China may proceed at any time to negotiate all types of contractual arrangement with U.S. LNG exporters, including long-term contracts, subject to the commercial considerations of the parties. As of April 25, 2017, the U.S. Department of Energy had authorized 19.2 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas exports to non-FTA countries.

U.S. Rig Count is up 479 rigs from last year's count of 406, with oil rigs up 394, gas rigs up 85, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged. Canadian Rig Count is up 37 rigs from last year's count of 43, with oil rigs up 13, gas rigs up 25, and miscellaneous rigs down 1 to 0.

PETROBRAS - Net income of R$ 4,449 million in 1Q17, compared to a loss of R$ 1,246 million in 1Q-2016

International Brent crude futures were at $50.96 per barrel at 0646 GMT on Friday, up 19 cents, or 0.37 percent, from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $48.01 per barrel, up 18 cents, or 0.38 percent.

OPEC will decide formally whether to extend the cuts when its ministers meet in Vienna on May 25. The producer group and other major suppliers including Russia agreed last year to cut their collective production by about 1.8 million barrels a day for the first half of 2017 in an effort to reduce bloated global stockpiles and re-balance the market.

Private investment in U.S. natural gas and oil infrastructure could create over 1 million U.S. jobs.

Iran said that it has plans to increase its crude oil production capacity by 3 million barrels per day.

Managing Director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Ali Kardor said Iran has so far recovered 1,060 billion cubic meters of natural gas from the supergiant South Pars Gas Field, adding the recovery has fetched Iran over 191 billion dollars in revenue.

Iran plans to strike $80 billion worth of oil contracts over coming two years as the country is set to implement newly-developed IPC contracts, a deputy head of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) said

Group results  Adjusted operating profit: €1.83 billion, up by 215% or €1.25 billion, vs first quarter of 2016  Adjusted net profit: €0.74 billion (up by €0.74 billion vs the first quarter of 2016)  Net profit: €0.97 billion  Strong cash generation: €1.93 billion, up by 41% vs the first quarter of 2016; €2.60 billion before changes in working capital at replacement cost, up by 76%  Capex: €2.83 billion (€2.42 billion on a pro-forma1 basis), in line with our strategy to bring cashgenerative projects on stream in 2017  Disposals agreed in the first quarter of 2017 of €2.9 billion, approximately 60% of the minimum target planned for the 2017-2020 four-year period  Net debt: €14.9 billion, in line with the end of 2016  Leverage at March 31, 2017: stable at 0.28

Brent LCOc1 was 60 cents higher at $50.82 a barrel by 1255 GMT (8.55 a.m. ET) after hitting an early high of $51.09. U.S. light crude oil CLc1 was last up 60 cents at $47.93.