U.S. Rig Count is up 13 from last week to 373, Canada Rig Count is up 44 from last week to 161.

Brent was down 71 cents, or 1.2%, at $55.71 a barrel. WTI was 46 cents, or 0.9%, lower at $53.11 a barrel.

For 2021, global oil demand is forecast to increase by 5.9 mb/d y-o-y to average 95.9 mb/d.

The OPEC+ alliance, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, decided in December after days of heated negotiations to ease their stringent quotas by a collective 500,000 b/d for January, instead of the originally scheduled 2 million b/d tapering.

Spot LNG prices LNG-AS have nearly tripled since early November as freezing temperatures across North Asia boosted demand and depleted inventories. Since July, prices are up a dizzying 1,000%.

U.S. crude oil production will average 11.1 million b/d in 2021, down 0.2 million b/d from 2020 as result of a decline in drilling activity related to low oil prices.

U.S. marketed gas production for 2021 will fall 2% and average 96.2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d).

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories decreased by 3.2 million barrels to 482.2 million barrels.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index fell 0.5% to 14,529 and the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex was down 0.4% at 49,600.11 by 0411 GMT.

Brent fell 36 cents to $55.70 a barrel. WTI dropped 26 cents to $52.65.

The combination of a severe cold snap in Asia, supply outages and maritime congestion has propelled spot prices for LNG to previously unforeseen heights. The North Asian price benchmark has now risen 18-fold in less than nine months, outperforming other commodities

Brent was up 36 cents, or 0.6%, at $56.94 a barrel. WTI was up 34 cents, or 0.6%, at $53.55 a barrel.

Brent crude oil spot prices to average $53 per barrel (b) in both 2021 and 2022 compared with an average of $42/b in 2020.

The companies could be at risk of U.S. sanctions under existing law if they do not stop work.

State-owned Qatar Petroleum is planning a to increase LNG production by 43% to 110 million mt/year by 2025, up from 77 million mt/year currently.