China has lifted restrictions on foreign investment in its conventional oil and gas upstream and city gas distribution sectors, in an attempt to boost resource development, and setting the stage to break the monopoly of national oil companies.

Front-month Brent crude futures LCOc1, the international benchmark for oil prices, were down 31 cents or 0.49% at $63.51 per barrel by 1320 GMT. Brent closed up 2.3% on Wednesday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were down 51 cents or 0.89% at $56.83 per barrel. WTI closed up 1.9% on Wednesday.

“Что особо важно: мы договорились постоянно мониторить ситуацию. Если появятся какие-либо угрозы для рынка, мы в любой момент можем собраться и решить, что необходимо делать. При угрозе дефицита, к примеру, мы можем вынести решение об увеличении производства”, - подчеркнул Александр Новак.

US crude oil inventories for the week ended June 28, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, decreased by 1.1 million bbl from the previous week, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration.

TC Energy Corporation (TSX:TRP) (NYSE:TRP) (TC Energy) announced that it has entered into an agreement to sell its U.S. midstream assets held by its subsidiary, Columbia Midstream Group, to UGI Energy Services, LLC, a subsidiary of UGI Corporation (NYSE: UGI), for approximately US$1.275 billion (Cdn$1.7 billion). The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2019 subject to closing adjustments and customary regulatory approvals.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 for September delivery were trading up 12 cents, or 0.2%, at $62.52 a barrel, U.S. crude futures for August CLc1 were up 16 cents, or 0.3%, at $56.41 a barrel.

Russian daily oil output rose in June to 11.15 million barrels per day (bpd), up from 11.11 million bpd in May, still below the amount agreed in a global deal to cut production, Energy Ministry data showed on Tuesday.

Tariffs, imposed by the US under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, as well as retaliatory tariffs imposed by China on US imports, have already harmed the US oil and gas industry, according to testimony Padilla recently gave to the US Trade Representative's Section 301 committee

The June shipments included 3.39 million b/d from Gulf terminals, 105,000 b/d from Kirkuk through the Ceyhan terminal and 25,000 b/d of heavy Qayara oil transported by truck to the southern port of Um Qasr.

PDVSA and its joint ventures exported 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude and refined products last month, a 26% increase over May. Chinese buyers took 59% of the shipments, followed by India with 18% and Singapore with 10%, the documents showed.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 were down 15 cents, or 0.23%, at $64.91 a barrel , U.S. crude futures for August CLc1 were down 12 cents, or 0.20%, at $58.97 a barrel

In view of the current fundamentals and the consensus view on the outlook for the remainder of 2019, the Conference decided to extend the voluntary production adjustments agreed at the 175th Meeting of the OPEC Conference for an additional period of nine months from 01 July 2019 to 31 March 2020.

Once again, Iran has been exempted from the OPEC output cut deal, Zangeneh told the reporters.

Fossil fuels—petroleum, natural gas, and coal—have accounted for at least 80% of energy consumption in the United States for well over a century.

Front-month Brent crude futures touched an intraday high of $66.75 a barrel and were up $1.80 at $66.54 a barrel by 0834 GMT. U.S. crude futures for August climbed $1.57 to $60.04 a barrel, after earlier hitting their highest in over five weeks at $60.28.