EXXONMOBIL - ExxonMobil Earns $19.7 Billion in 2017; $8.4 Billion in Fourth Quarter

CHEVRON - Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) reported earnings of $3.1 billion ($1.64 per share – diluted) for fourth quarter 2017, compared with $415 million ($0.22 per share – diluted) in the 2016 fourth quarter. Included in the quarter were non-cash provisional tax benefits of $2.02 billion related to U.S. tax reform and a non-cash charge of $190 million related to a former mining asset. Foreign currency effects decreased earnings in the 2017 fourth quarter by $96 million.

FT - Mexico secured almost $100bn in investment in its most successful oil tender to date as Anglo-Dutch oil major Royal Dutch Shell positioned itself as the biggest player in deepwater exploration and new companies including Qatar Petroleum burst on to the scene.

SHANA - Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh says the country's petroleum output has increased by 165,000 b/d in the first 10 months of the current Iranian calendar year which began on March 21 compared to the same period last year.

ИРНА - Министр нефти Ирана Биджан Зангане заявил, что объём экспорта нефти из Ирана в Россию составляет 3 млн. барр. в месяц.

PLATTS - NYMEX March natural gas futures ticked higher in buying at lows overnight in the US ahead of Friday's open. At 7:10 am ET (1210 GMT) the contract was 4.4 cents higher at $2.900/MMBtu, having shed 13.9 cents the previous day.

ANTON SILUANOV RUSSIA FINANCE MINISTER-02-02-2018

REUTERS - Brent was down 68 cents, or 1 percent, at $67.91 a barrel at 0344 GMT, after falling 1.5 percent on Friday. Brent’s weekly drop was 2.75 percent last week. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude declined 72 cents to $64.73 a barrel, after dropping 0.5 percent in the previous session. WTI fell by 1 percent during the last week.

REUTERS - Gas output in China rose to a record 147.4 billion cubic meters (bcm) last year, up 8.5 percent from 2016, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed. Gas production is forecast to climb by between 6 percent to 8 percent per year through 2020, according to researchers at China National Petroleum Corp.

EXXONMOBIL - Despite efficiency gains, global energy demand will likely increase nearly 25 percent. Nearly all growth will be in non-OECD countries (e.g. China, India), where demand will likely increase about 40 percent, or about the same amount of energy used in the Americas today.

NOV - National Oilwell Varco, Inc. (NYSE: NOV) reported a fourth quarter 2017 net loss of $14 million, or $0.04 per share. Revenues for the fourth quarter were $1.97 billion, an increase of seven percent compared to the third quarter and an increase of 16 percent from the fourth quarter of 2016. Operating loss for the fourth quarter was $111 million, or 5.6 percent of sales. Adjusted EBITDA (operating profit excluding depreciation, amortization, and other items) for the fourth quarter was $197 million, or 10.0 percent of sales, an increase of $30 million from the third quarter. Other items were $133 million, pre-tax, and primarily consisted of charges for inventory write-downs, facility closures and severance. Cash flow from operations for the fourth quarter was $321 million.

EIA - China surpassed the United States in annual gross crude oil imports in 2017, importing 8.4 million barrels per day (b/d) compared with 7.9 million b/d for the United States. China had become the world’s largest net importer (imports minus exports) of total petroleum and other liquid fuels in 2013. New refinery capacity and strategic inventory stockpiling combined with declining domestic oil production were the major factors contributing to the recent increase in China’s crude oil imports.

BP - “2017 was one of the strongest years in BP’s recent history. We delivered operationally and financially, with very strong earnings in the Downstream, Upstream production up 12%, and our finances rebalanced. And we did all this while maintaining safe and reliable operations. “We enter the second year of our five-year plan with real momentum, increasingly confident that we can continue to deliver growth across our business, improving cash flows and returns for shareholders out to 2021 and beyond. “At the same time, we are embracing the energy transition, seeking new opportunities in a changing, lower-carbon world.”

BEA - The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, through the Department of Commerce, announced today that the goods and services deficit was $53.1 billion in December, up $2.7 billion from $50.4 billion in November, revised. December exports were $203.4 billion, $3.5 billion more than November exports. December imports were $256.5 billion, $6.2 billion more than November imports.

REUTERS - Japan’s imports of LNG rose to nearly 8.7 million tonnes last month, up 8 percent from December and the largest volume since at least January, 2013, according to ship tracking data on Thomson Reuters Eikon that stretches back five years.

BLOOMBERG - Norway’s $1.1 trillion wealth fund shocked the world last year when it announced a plan to divest all its oil and gas stocks, worth $35 billion at the time.

PLATTS - "We estimate that Russian crude inflows to China will likely grow by at least 11% in 2018. There will also be additional availability in the seaborne market, as PetroChina will take almost all its barrels through the doubled capacity pipelines," said Wang Zhuwei, senior analyst with S&P Global Platts China Oil Analytics.

PLATTS - "The integrated entity will have the capacity to neutralize the impact of volatility in global crude oil prices," said oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan. "The integrated entity will have the advantage of having enhanced capacity to bear higher risks and take higher investment decisions."

МИНЭНЕРГО РОССИИ - «Мы придаем большое значение восстановлению экономики Сирии, в частности нефтегазовой сфере, что, безусловно, будет способствовать нормализации социально-экономической ситуации в стране», - отметил Александр Новак.

МИНФИН РОССИИ - Ожидаемый объем дополнительных нефтегазовых доходов федерального бюджета, связанный с превышением фактически сложившейся цены на нефть над базовым уровнем, прогнозируется в феврале 2018 года в размере +293,6 млрд руб.