EQUINOR - The board of directors of Statoil proposes to change the name of the company to Equinor. The name change supports the company’s strategy and development as a broad energy company.

REUTERS - West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil futures for April delivery fell 3 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $61.16 a barrel at 0354 GMT, after settling up 23 cents on Thursday. WTI is set to fall 1.4 percent this week, reversing the previous week’s 1.3 percent gain. Brent crude futures trading in London fell 7 cents to $65.05 a barrel after settling up 23 cents. Brent is down 0.7 percent for the week.

МИНФИН РОССИИ - Средняя цена на нефть Urals за период мониторинга с 15 февраля по 14 марта 2018 года составила $ 62,5425 за баррель, или $ 456,6 за тонну.

IEA - Looking at demand, our estimate for global growth in 2018 has increased by 90 kb/d taking it up to 1.5 mb/d. Although this is a modest revision, it is interesting that provisional data suggests very strong starts to the year in China and India, which, taken together, accounted for nearly 50% of global demand growth in 2017. Cold weather in some parts of the northern hemisphere in January-February saw an increase in heating demand.

PLATTS - Demand for OPEC crude will average 32.61 million b/d in 2018, the organization calculated, a 200,000 b/d decrease from last month's projection.

EIA - Annual average U.S. crude oil production grew by 463,000 barrels per day (b/d) in 2017 to 9.3 million b/d after declining by 551,000 b/d in 2016.

API - Led by gasoline and seasonal demand for heating fuels, U.S. petroleum demand hit 20.3 million barrels per day (MBD) in February. Demand was up by more than a million barrels per day from February of last year, nearing record highs not seen for more than a decade.

REUTERS - U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $60.77 a barrel at 0753 GMT, up 6 cents, or 0.1 percent, from their previous settlement. Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $64.62 per barrel, down just 2 cents from their last close.

REUTERS - The country churned out 30.37 million tonnes of crude in the first two months of the year, according to data from he National Bureau of Statistics, equivalent to 3.76 million barrels per day (bpd) and on a par with the weakest level in data stretching back to June, 2011.

EIA - Venezuela’s crude oil production has been on a downward trend for two decades, but it has experienced significant decreases over the past two years. Crude oil production in Venezuela decreased from 2.3 million barrels per day (b/d) in January 2016 to 1.6 million b/d in January 2018. A combination of relatively low global crude oil prices and the mismanagement of Venezuela’s oil industry has led to these accelerated declines in production.

EIA - Crude oil production from the major US onshore regions is forecast to increase 131,000 b/d month-over-month in April from 6,823 to 6,954 thousand barrels/day , gas production to increase 969 million cubic feet/day from 65,150 to 66,119 million cubic feet/day .

REUTERS - U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $62.10 a barrel at 0407 GMT, up 6 cents, or 0.1 percent. Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $65.58 per barrel, up 9 cents, or 0.1 percent, from their previous close.

ROSNEFT - Essar Oil Limited (EOL) owned by the Consortium of International Investors led by Rosneft, since March 2017 to date has expanded the retail network Essar-branded fuel stations by 20% reaching 4,200.

REUTERS - Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $63.79 per barrel at 0753 GMT, up 18 cents, or 0.3 percent, from their previous close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $60.24 a barrel, up 12 cents, or 0.2 percent.

OPEC - The OPEC Reference Basket increased for the fifth-straight month in January, gaining a sharp 7.7% to average $66.85/b, the highest monthly average since November 2014. Oil prices were supported by continuing efforts by OPEC and participating non-OPEC producers to balance the market and ten consecutive weeks of crude inventory draws amid healthy economic growth and improving oil demand.