“There was a request from our colleagues in Venezuela to carry out a restructuring,” Russian finance minister Anton Siluanov said. “There are difficulties in fulfilling the debt.”

Oil giant Saudi Aramco will on Wednesday add 1.9 million barrels (300,000 kilolitres) of crude to storage that it holds in Japan, a Japanese trade ministry official said.

The worldwide rig count for August 2017 was 2,116, up 6 from the 2,110 counted in July 2017, and up 569 from the 1,547 counted in August 2016.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $49.12 barrel at 0146 GMT, 4 cents below their last settlement, but not far off more than three-week highs reached in the previous session. Brent crude futures, the benchmark for oil prices outside the United States, dipped 8 cents to $54.12 a barrel, though still not far from May highs reached the previous day.

Almost $6 billion worth of mergers and acquisitions have taken place in the UK oil and gas sector in the first half of the year – sending a strong vote of confidence in a basin that has been grappling with the challenges of a major downturn, a new report reveals.

Brent LCOc1 had gained 51 cents to $53.89 a barrel by 1356 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures Clc1 were up 45 cents at $49.54 a barrel.

Brent crude futures LCOc1, the international benchmark for oil prices, had fallen by almost 1 percent from their last close, or 41 cents, to $52.34 per barrel by 0655 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Clc1 crude futures were more stable, at $47.30 barrel, close to their last settlement.

Russian oil output slipped to a year-low of 10.91 million barrels per day (bpd) in August from 10.95 million bpd in July, Energy Ministry data showed on Saturday, as Gazprom Neft suspended offshore Arctic production to carry out maintenance.

The figure of around 2.2 million to 2.3 million b/d includes about 300,000 to 400,000 b/d of condensates, which implies that its current crude oil production is at the coveted 1.8 million b/d mark.

The acquisition of Russia’s Eurasia Drilling Co (EDC) by U.S. oilfield services giant Schlumberger (SLB.N) has been held up by U.S. sanctions on Russia, Russian Deputy PM Arkady Dvorkovich was quoted as saying by local news services.

The Trump administration is ready to block a Russian state-owned oil giant from gaining control of critical energy assets in the U.S. owned by Venezuela, senior American officials say, a move that likely would feed tensions between Washington and Moscow.

The October light, sweet crude contract on NYMEX fell 13¢ on Aug. 29 to settle at $46.44/bbl while the November contract was up 4¢ to settle at $47/bbl. The NYMEX natural gas price for September gained 3.6¢ to a rounded $2.96/MMbtu. The Henry Hub cash gas price was $2.88/MMbtu, down 4¢. The Brent crude contract for October on London’s ICE was up 11¢ to $52/bbl. The November contract gained 24¢ to $51.66/bbl. The September gas oil contract was $484.50/tonne on Aug. 29, up 25¢. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ basket of crudes on Aug. 29 was $49.51/bbl, down 35¢.

Top oil producers Saudi Arabia and Russia are pushing to extend their deal to limit crude oil production for another three months, which would leave the output deal between OPEC and non-OPEC producers in place through the end of June, people familiar with the matter said.

Three Libyan oilfields have gone offline and output has declined by 360,000 bopd after militia violence, the country’s NOC announced.

Profit attributable to the owners of PJSC Gazprom for the six months ended June 30, 2017 totalled RUB 381,346 million which is RUB 225,814 million, or 37 % less than for the same period of the prior year.