BP announced the start of gas production from the Atoll Phase One project, offshore Egypt. The project, in the North Damietta concession in the East Nile Delta, was delivered seven months ahead of schedule and 33% below the initial cost estimate.

EIA - Crude oil production from the major US onshore regions is forecast to increase 110,000 b/d month-over-month in March to 6,756 million b/d, gas production to increase 832 million cubic feet/day to 64,941 million cubic feet/day .

REUTERS - “The Ministry maintains that the Norwegian rules on reimbursement of exploration costs and interest on carry forward of losses ... do not constitute state aid under Article 61 of the EEA Agreement, and are therefore in compliance with the EEA (European Economic Area) law,” the ministry said in a letter.

NOVATEK - Total and Eni signed exploration and production agreements (Agreements) with the Government of Lebanon to explore and produce hydrocarbons on the offshore blocks 4 and 9 in the Eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. NOVATEK’s participating interest in the Agreements is 20%, Total and Eni both hold 40% stakes, with Total appointed as the Operator.

BAKER HUGHES A GE - U.S. Rig Count is up 29 rigs from last week to 975, with oil rigs up 26 to 791, gas rigs up 3 to 184, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged. Canada Rig Count is down 17 rigs from last week to 325, with oil rigs down 13 to 221 and gas rigs down 4 to 104.

BAKER HUGHES A GE - The worldwide rig count for February 2018 was 2,271, up 96 from the 2,175 counted in January 2018, and up 244 from the 2,027 counted in February 2017.

EXXONMOBIL said it added 2.7 billion oil-equivalent barrels of proved oil and gas reserves in 2017, replacing 183 percent of production. ExxonMobil's proved reserves totaled 21.2 billion oil-equivalent barrels at year-end 2017. Liquids represented 57 percent of the reserves, up from 53 percent in 2016. ExxonMobil’s reserves life at current production rates is 14 years.

EIA - China surpassed the United States in annual gross crude oil imports in 2017, importing 8.4 million barrels per day (b/d) compared with 7.9 million b/d for the United States. China had become the world’s largest net importer (imports minus exports) of total petroleum and other liquid fuels in 2013. New refinery capacity and strategic inventory stockpiling combined with declining domestic oil production were the major factors contributing to the recent increase in China’s crude oil imports.

PLATTS - "We estimate that Russian crude inflows to China will likely grow by at least 11% in 2018. There will also be additional availability in the seaborne market, as PetroChina will take almost all its barrels through the doubled capacity pipelines," said Wang Zhuwei, senior analyst with S&P Global Platts China Oil Analytics.

BLOOMBERG - Norway’s $1.1 trillion wealth fund shocked the world last year when it announced a plan to divest all its oil and gas stocks, worth $35 billion at the time.

TOTAL - Total has signed an agreement to sell a 25% interest in the Exploration Block 11B/12B, offshore South Africa, to Qatar Petroleum. The transaction remains subject to regulatory approval.

REUTERS - Gas output in China rose to a record 147.4 billion cubic meters (bcm) last year, up 8.5 percent from 2016, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed. Gas production is forecast to climb by between 6 percent to 8 percent per year through 2020, according to researchers at China National Petroleum Corp.

SHANA - Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh says the country's petroleum output has increased by 165,000 b/d in the first 10 months of the current Iranian calendar year which began on March 21 compared to the same period last year.

BAKER HUGHES A GE - U.S. Rig Count is down 1 rig from last week to 946, with oil rigs up 6 to 765, gas rigs down 7 to 181, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged. Canada Rig Count is up 4 rigs from last week to 342, with oil rigs up 14 to 234 and gas rigs down 10 to 108.

BLOOMBERG - The Beijing-based explorer sees capital expenditures at 70 billion to 80 billion yuan ($11.1 billion to $12.7 billion) for 2018, it said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange Thursday. That’s an increase of as much as 60 percent from the previous year, which came in under target. It also raised its production estimate to between 470 million and 480 million barrels of oil equivalent, poised for the the first increase in three years.