Indonesia's state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina will seek partners to build a strategic petroleum reserve of about 25 million barrels to ensure energy security.

US crude oil production during April amounted to 8.933 million b/d, a decline of 2.5% from the March average and 7.9% from the April 2015 average.

U.S. Rig Count is up 10 rigs from last week to 431, with oil rigs up 11 to 341, gas rigs down 1 to 89, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 1. Canadian Rig Count is unchanged from last week at 76, with oil rigs down 1 to 35, gas rigs up 1 to 40, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 1.

The company said this week in a presentation on its website that the decision on expanding the Tengiz development in Kazakhstan will be made in mid-2016. Installing 4,500 camp beds for construction crews is done and port dredging 25 percent complete, it said. The project may cost as much as $40 billion and add crude supply equivalent to that of Libya. The investment was put on hold last year after cost estimates ballooned amid plunging oil prices.

"Memorandum of understandings (MoUs) worth over $80 billion to be spent on investments in oil and gas infrastructure, pipelines, refineries, power, facility refurbishments and upstream have been signed with Chinese companies,"

"On the issue of territory and disputes over maritime delineation, China does not accept any dispute resolution from a third party and does not accept any dispute resolution forced on China."

The Chinese, through a statement by the Foreign Ministry last Sunday, said the two countries “have overlapping claims for maritime rights and interest.”

Russian oil and gas companies will maintain stable capital spending in the next few years, while the global industry cuts back, thanks in part to advantages provided by the country’s currency, according to Fitch Ratings.

Saudi Aramco’s IPO is part of a transformation plan, envisaged by the powerbroker deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, which seeks broad-based privatisation to boost employment and diversify the kingdom away from oil. But there is scepticism about whether the country is capable of such an overhaul when its people have grown accustomed to the state providing cradle-to-grave services.

Venezuela’s oil output, already the lowest since 2009, is set to slide further this year as contractors scale back drilling after the cash-strapped country fell more than $1 billion behind in payments.

Total upstream jobs in the state during May averaged 205,100, down 21.2% from the May 2015 average and 33% from the estimated high of 306,020 in December 2014. Estimates from the TPI show the trough in upstream employment before December 2014 was 184,640 in October 2009. During the previous growth cycle, industry employment peaked at 225,965 in October 2008.

The agreement provides for the entry of ChemChina into the FEPCO equity capital with a stake of 40% and for the proportional financing. The parties intend to conduct joint analysis aimed at the specification of niche markets for FEPCO products based on the capabilities of the partner that enjoys a robust position in the Asia-Pacific markets.

Growth in Saudi Arabia's non-oil gross domestic product is expected to slow to 2.8 percent in 2016 from 3.4 percent in 2015, Saudi central bank governor Ahmed al-Kholifey told state television station Ekhbariya.

The Calgary-based pipeline operator filed papers late Friday seeking arbitration under the North American Free Trade Agreement, arguing that TransCanada had every reason to believe it would win approval to build Keystone XL.

Oil output will reach 69 million tonnes of oil equivalent in 2016, against 67 million tonnes last year, while gas production will rise to 132.2 billion cubic meters (bcm) from 128.3 bcm in 2015 and 130.9 bcm in 2014, a Sonatrach report showed.