Gazprom would be able to honor its minimum contractual commitments to EU customers without Nord Stream 2 or Ukrainian gas transit from January 1, 2020

Royal Dutch Shell has decided to exit a Baltic liquefied natural gas (LNG) project led by Russian state gas major Gazprom on the Russian Baltic coast.

The parties discussed key areas of cooperation between the companies, including gas supplies and the ongoing construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

In the first quarter 2019, NOVATEK’s hydrocarbon production totaled 147.1 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe), including 18.66 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas and 2,987 thousand tons of liquids (gas condensate and crude oil), resulting in an increase in total hydrocarbons produced by 14.6 million boe, or by 11.0% as compared with the first quarter 2018.

Shell Offshore Inc. (Shell), a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc, signed an agreement yesterday to sell its 22.45% non-operated interest in the Caesar-Tonga asset in the US Gulf of Mexico to Delek CT Investment LLC, a subsidiary of Delek Group Ltd (Delek). The total consideration for this deal is $965 million in cash.

Oil prices edged back towards five-month highs on Wednesday, supported by ongoing supply cuts by producer club OPEC and U.S. sanctions against oil exporters Iran and Venezuela.

Brent crude oil spot prices averaged $66 per barrel (b) in March, up $2/b from February 2019. Brent prices for the first quarter of 2019 averaged $63/b, which is $4/b lower than the same period in 2018. Despite lower crude oil prices than last year, Brent prices in March were $9/b higher than in December 2018, marking the largest December-to-March price increase since December 2011 to March 2012.

The kingdom will pump about 9.8 million barrels a day in March and April and export less than 7 million barrels daily in both months, Al-Falih said in March. Saudi Arabia has a production target of 10.3 million barrels a day.

According to OPEC's latest monthly oil market report, global oil inventories stood at 2.88 billion barrels in January, about 19.1 million barrels above the five-year average that OPEC is targeting with its current output policy.

Annual U.S. crude oil production reached a record level of 10.96 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2018, 1.6 million b/d (17%) higher than 2017 levels. In December 2018, monthly U.S. crude oil production reached 11.96 million b/d, the highest monthly level of crude oil production in U.S. history.

PLATTS - Iranian oil exports, which have been laboring under US sanctions since late last year, have recovered close to prior levels, supported by unflinching demand from China and South Korea, data from shipping sources and provisional tanker tracking data showed Tuesday.

Bulgaria, which is heavily dependent on Russian gas for its domestic needs, will lose hefty transit fees when TurkStream becomes operational at the end of this year and Gazprom stops its gas deliveries to Turkey, Greece and Macedonia via Bulgaria in 2020.

REUTERS - Saudi Aramco is set to raise $12 billion with its first international bond issue after receiving more than $100 billion in orders, a record breaking vote of market confidence for the oil giant which has faced investor concerns about government influence over the company.

It was noted that France ranks among Gazprom's key markets in Europe. The Company's gas exports to the country grew by 58 per cent in five years, reaching 12.9 billion cubic meters in 2018.

Having slashed spending plans and run out of willing buyers for assets, some U.S. shale producers are turning to workforce cuts as investors step up demands for returns.