PLATTS - The Trump administration announced Monday that it will sanction PDVSA, Venezuela's state-owned oil company, a move that could suspend roughly 500,000 b/d of Venezuelan crude exports to US Gulf Coast refineries and shut down US exports of diluents to the South American nation.

PLATTS - Chevron, PBF Energy, Valero and Citgo, which is owned by PDVSA, are the largest US refiners of Venezuelan crude, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Spokesmen for those four companies did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

PLATTS - The US Energy Information Administration forecasts that Venezuelan oil production will fall below 1 million b/d in the second half of 2019, according to Erik Kreil, an international energy analysis team leader with the EIA.

PLATTS - 1.4 million b/d of Iranian oil supplies to leave the market by November, when the US sanctions go into force. Venezuela, which pumped 1.22 million b/d in August could see output fall to 1 million b/d in 2019. Politically unstable Libya also presents a supply risk.

REUTERS - Venezuela gave China another stake in the OPEC nation’s oil industry and signed several other deals in the energy sector, but Beijing made no mention of new funds for Caracas during President Nicolas Maduro’s visit to his key financier on Friday.

CNBC - "We can see that the pricing situation today depends not just on the supply/demand balance or the general economic situation but also on the uncertainty that we observe today in the global markets: the trade wars, the sanctions that the U.S. pursue," Novak said, speaking to CNBC's Geoff Cutmore at the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok, Russia.

OGJ - the ICC tribunal awarded ConocoPhillips $2.04 billion after PDVSA failed to uphold its contractual commitments. The award applies to contracts ConocoPhillips had with PDVSA and two of its subsidiaries in the Hamaca and Petrozuata heavy crude oil projects expropriated by the government and to fiscal changes enacted before the nationalizations in 2007.

IMF - On Venezuela, it is difficult to discuss because it is in a state of economic collapse. We have not engaged with them in over a decade on their economic policies.

REUTERS - Brent crude LCOc1 rose $1.23, or 1.7 percent, to $74.63 a barrel by 0544 GMT after slumping 6.9 percent on Wednesday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) CLc1 added 46 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $70.84 a barrel, after falling 5 percent the previous session.

REUTERS - Brent crude futures LCOc1 were down 75 cents, or 1 percent, at $78.11 a barrel by 0308 GMT, having fallen as low as $77.60. U.S. crude CLc1 was down 55 cents, or 0.7 percent, at $73.56.

REUTERS - Benchmark Brent LCOc1 was up 70 cents at $77.81 a barrel by 1150 GMT. U.S. crude CLc1 was unchanged at $73.80.

REUTERS - Yet by 0649 GMT, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 16 cents, or 0.2 percent, from their last settlement at $73.10 per barrel. Brent crude futures LCOc1 were down 7 cents, or 0.1 percent, at $77.32.

BLOOMBERG - Venezuela wrote to fellow OPEC members urging them to unite against U.S. sanctions, echoing a similar letter from Iran, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

PLATTS - President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the "war" on American energy is over in a State of the Union speech given as US crude oil output is set to reach levels not seen in more than 47 years.

PLATTS - Venezuelan crude output plummeted in December to 1.70 million b/d, according to the latest S&P Global Platts OPEC survey released Monday.