Global offshore oil production (including lease condensate and hydrocarbon gas liquids) in 2015 was at the highest level since 2010, and accounted for nearly 30% of total global oil production. Offshore oil production increased in both 2014 and 2015, reversing consecutive annual declines from 2010 to 2013. Production from onshore tight oil plays has increased faster over the past several years and accounts for an increasing amount of total oil production.

"We have built capacity of up to 2.4 million b/d, but [we are] currently producing about 1.9 million b/d," Omar Farouk, the special adviser on international energy relations to Nigeria's oil minister of state, said on the ministry's twitter handle.

The World Bank is raising its 2017 forecast for crude oil prices to $55 per barrel from $53 per barrel as members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) prepare to limit production after a long period of unrestrained output.

«Самое сильное и продолжительное падение цен на рынке за последние 45 лет в условиях нехватки финансирования рискует обернуться дефицитом ресурсов, который приведет к непредсказуемым скачкам цен и в конечном счете сильно ударит по потребителям. В текущей ситуации «заморозка» или даже сокращение добычи на определенное время – правильное решение для мировой энергетики», – подчеркнул Александр Новак.

A senior Iranian oil official here on Monday voiced Tehran readiness to join the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil freeze plan to help stabilize prices in international markets.

“We should be producing 9 million if it wasn’t for the wars,” said Falah Al Amri, the director general of state oil marketing company SOMO.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 were down 18 cents at $51.60 a barrel by 0725 ET. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 was down 37 cents at $50.48.

U.S. gross crude oil imports increased by 528,000 barrels per day (b/d), or 7%, during the first half of 2016 compared to the first half of 2015. This increase reverses a multiyear trend of decreasing U.S. crude oil imports as a result of increasing U.S. production.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 was trading at $50.59 a barrel at 0652 GMT, down 4 cents from its last settlement. Brent crude futures LCOc1 were up 7 cents at $51.45 per barrel.

The economic consequences of cheap oil have been severe for Saudi Arabia. Riyadh is burning through foreign-exchange reserves, government contractors have gone unpaid, and civil servants, who make up two-thirds of the labor force, will get no bonus this year. The country’s fiscal deficit is more than 10 percent of gross domestic product, the highest ratio of any Group of 20 nation. The International Monetary Fund forecasts that Saudi economic growth will slow to about 1 percent next year, the worst since 2009. A few banks predict a recession.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were trading at $50.81 per barrel at 0011 GMT, up 52 cents, or 1 percent, from their last settlement. International Brent crude futures were at $52.14 a barrel, up 46 cents, or 0.9 percent.

Many nations are willing to join OPEC in cutting production to secure a continued improvement in oil prices, said Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy and Industry Khalid Al-Falih.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were trading at $50.81 per barrel at 0011 GMT, up 52 cents, or 1 percent, from their last settlement. International Brent crude futures were at $52.14 a barrel, up 46 cents, or 0.9 percent.

"We can operate in the $50 range, we have to," he said, adding that the business needs to be resilient to price cycles, can adapt and is agile.

"I don't necessarily have the view that we are setting ourselves up for a big crunch within the next 3, 4, 5 years," CEO Rex Tillerson told the Oil & Money conference.