the U.S. sustained its position as the world’s leading oil producer, continuing a pace of 12.1 million barrels a day (mb/d), matching February 2019. In addition, petroleum demand in March was the strongest for that month in more than a decade at 20.7 mb/d.

Since January, Maduro’s administration has been in talks with allies in Moscow about ways to circumvent a ban on clients paying PDVSA in dollars, the sources said. Russia has publicly said the U.S. sanctions are illegal and it would work with Venezuela to weather them.

Australia's largest gas producer, Woodside, Thursday said LNG production from its three facilities rose 11% year on year in the January-March quarter, and maintained its 2019 production guidance.

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.

Стратегическая цель России в нефтегазовой отрасли - увеличить долю на мировом рынке СПГ с 8% до 15-20% к 2035 году, а также ускорить газификацию регионов, расширить использование природного газа как газомоторного топлива и производство в секторе нефтегазохимии, поделился планами Александр Новак.

“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.