Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter, has raised June oil prices to Asia by the most in 14 months, in a hopeful sign that demand from the region is on the up.

U.S. Rig Count is down 5 rigs from last week to 415, with oil rigs down 4 to 328, gas rigs down 1 to 86, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 1. Canadian Rig Count is down 1 rig from last week to 36, with oil rigs up 1 to 11, gas rigs down 2 to 24, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 1.

“We still believe sustained front-month WTI at $45 to $50 will be self limiting, as U.S. shale-producer spending and drilling would stabilize and perhaps recover.”

The rout in crude prices is snowballing into one of the biggest avalanches in the history of corporate America, with 59 oil and gas companies now bankrupt after this week's filings for creditor protection by Midstates Petroleum MPOY.PK and Ultra Petroleum UPL.NL.

The reality is that the Kremlin is always likely to be heavily involved in the Russian oil industry. That creates the concern that the proposals might be structured to try to achieve higher prices, which is not consistent with efficient price discovery.

BP’s own forecast shows global energy demand rising one-third higher by 2035 than it is today, which would be like adding the total combined energy demand of the US, the European Union, and Japan. And it’s BP’s expectation that more than half of this demand will be met by oil and gas by 2035.

During the period, the unaudited oil and gas sales revenue of the Company reached approximately RMB24.64 billion, representing a decrease of 30.7% YoY, mainly due to the sharp decrease in international oil prices. The Company’s average realized oil price decreased 39.1% YoY to US$32.54 per barrel while the average realized gas price was US$5.69 per thousand cubic feet, down 14.8% YoY.

Operating losses were $500 million ($0.33 per common share), driven by low commodity prices, wider bitumen differentials to Western Canadian Select (WCS), weak benchmark refining margins and a Refining and Marketing first-in, first-out (FIFO) loss of $192 million. Net earnings were $257 million ($0.17 per common share).

The stronger crude oil demand outlook is likely the main reason for higher crude prices across the entire futures curve, whereas the near-term supply concerns are putting additional upward pressure on prices for near-term delivery.

Brent for June settlement increased as much as $1.23, or 2.7 percent, to $46.97 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract gained $1.26 to $45.74 a barrel on the on Tuesday. The global benchmark crude traded at a premium of $1.91 to WTI.

At an average price of $53 per barrel of oil means the world’s 50 biggest publicly traded companies in the industry can stop bleeding cash, according to oilfield consultant Wood Mackenzie Ltd. Nabors, which owns the world’s largest fleet of onshore drilling rigs, said it has already been talking with several large customers about plans to boost work in the second half of the year if prices rise "comfortably" above $50.

Amid improving market sentiment and a weakening dollar, the World Bank is raising its 2016 forecast for crude oil prices to $41 per barrel from $37 per barrel.

A global crude oil deficit will develop before the end of this year, the chairman of Facts Global Energy consultancy Fereidun Fesharaki said Monday.

Смысл был договариваться в феврале, есть он и в апреле. Но, действительно, чем больше времени проходит, тем более значимыми становятся фундаментальные рыночные факторы. За счет снижения инвестиций в отрасль в результате низких цен предложение будет снижаться. Мы видим, что только за последние два года мейджоры существенно подсократили свои инвестиционные программы, общее недофинансирование отрасли составляет около $400 млрд. Наблюдается падение добычи сланцевой нефти в США уже больше чем на 500 тыс. баррелей с пиковых величин — сейчас они добывают меньше 9 млн баррелей в сутки. Это все будет влиять на то, что при росте спроса предложение будет снижаться, рынок все равно выровняется.

“With this rule, the Russian government is trying to break the vicious dependence of the economy on oil via the ruble. What’s changing is that the Russian government is signaling to the market participants that the ruble will be more predictable to spur investments into the economy.”