the goods and services deficit was $49.4 billion in February, down $1.8 billion from $51.1 billion in January,

BHGE - U.S. Rig Count is down 10 rigs from last week to 1,012, with oil rigs down 8 to 825, gas rigs down 2 to 187, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 0. Canada Rig Count unchanged from last week at 66, with oil rigs up 1 to 19 and gas rigs down 1 to 47.

U.S. EIA - Crude oil production from the major US onshore regions is forecast to increase 80,000 b/d month-over-month in April from 8,380 to 8,460 thousand barrels/day , gas production to increase 907 million cubic feet/day from 78,930 to 79,837 million cubic feet/day .

Russian energy major Gazprom Neft expects the Arctic to account for more than half its oil and gas production by 2020,

First quarter production of 18.4 mmboe was a record for Santos and 33% higher than the corresponding quarter, primarily due to sustained strong asset performance and the acquisition of Quadrant Energy.

Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh said the current crude oil market was in a fragile state, adding, “If the US decided to exert more pressure on Iran, the oil market would become unpredictably more fragile.”

BHGE - U.S. Rig Count is down 3 rigs from last week to 1,022, with oil rigs up 2 to 833, gas rigs down 5 to 189, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 0. Canada Rig Count is down 2 rigs from last week to 66, with oil rigs down 4 to 18 and gas rigs up 2 to 48.

Total world demand for the year is now expected to reach 99.91 mb/d and exceed the 100.00 mb/d threshold during 2H19. OECD oil demand growth is projected to reach 0.21 mb/d, with OECD Americas leading the increase, while oil demand in the non-OECD region is projected to rise by around 1.0 mb/d, with Other Asia and China being the primary contributors to growth.

“Russia will not increase its output unless in coordination with the rest of OPEC and OPEC+ countries,” Mazroui said. “I believe in the wisdom of Russia, and I believe that Russia has benefited from this agreement... I don’t see any reason for Russia not to continue with us.”

Production by OPEC countries in March was 2.2 mb/d lower than in November and now there is uncertainty concerning Libya. Production by non-OPEC producers in 1Q19 was 0.7 mb/d lower than in 4Q18.

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.

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.

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.