"It became evident that U.S. shale oil output has become and will remain a new global oil price regulator for the foreseeable future," Rosneft said.

Rosneft and Demiroren Group Companies signed an Agreement on petroleum product supplies during 2018-2020.

Brent crude oil was up 15 cents at $52.34 a barrel by 0900 GMT, after falling 1.7 percent on Thursday and 5 percent the day before in its biggest percentage decline in a year. U.S. crude oil was up 15 cents at $49.43 a barrel. It fell below $50 on Thursday for the first since December. U.S. crude is on track for a drop of more than 7 percent this week, its biggest weekly fall for five months.

EIA forecasts Brent crude oil prices to average $55/b in 2017 and $57/b in 2018. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices are expected to average about $1/b less than Brent prices in the forecast. NYMEX contract values for May 2017 delivery traded during the five-day period ending March 2 suggest that a range of $46/b to $63/b encompasses the market expectation for WTI prices in May 2017 at the 95% confidence level.

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 $48.5 billion in January, up $4.2 billion from $44.3 billion in December, revised. January exports were $192.1 billion, $1.1 billion more than December exports. January imports were $240.6 billion, $5.3 billion more than December imports.

Brent crude futures dropped 47 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $55.43 a barrel as of 0749 GMT after settling 1.5 percent higher in the previous session. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 47 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $52.86 a barrel after closing the previous session up 1.4 percent.

Oil closed at the lowest level in more than three weeks as record U.S. crude inventories were seen jeopardizing OPEC’s efforts to drain a global surplus.

The LUKOIL Group oil production for the fourth quarter and twelve months of 2016 was 22.7 and 92.0 million tonnes, respectively. Production for the fourth quarter excluding compensation crude oil from West Qurna-2 project in Iraq increased by 2.5% compared to the third quarter of 2016.

Benchmark Brent crude oil was down 50 cents a barrel at $55.86 by 1125 GMT. U.S. light crude was 50 cents lower at $53.33.

Light, sweet crude oil prices for April dropped modestly Feb. 24 but still settled at about $54/bbl on Feb. 24 on the New York market despite a climbing US rig count. The US oil futures benchmark has traded at $50-55/bbl for weeks.

The growing world economy will require more energy, but consumption is expected to grow less quickly than in the past - at 1.3% per year over the Outlook period (2015-2035) compared with 2.2% per year in 1995-2015.

U.S. crude oil production increased for the second consecutive month in November 2016, the first time this has occurred since early 2015. Increased drilling activity in the Permian region, which spans Texas and New Mexico, as well as the start of a number of new projects in the Federal Offshore Gulf of Mexico (GOM), more than offset declining production from other regions in October and November 2016.

The United States is expected to become a net exporter of natural gas on an average annual basis by 2018. The transition to net exporter is driven by declining pipeline imports, growing pipeline exports, and increasing exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG). The United States is also projected to become a net exporter of total energy in the 2020s in large part because of increasing natural gas exports.

China is the global leader in methanol use and has recently expanded methanol production capacity. Since the early 2000s, China’s methanol consumption in fuel products has risen sharply and is estimated to have been more than 500,000 barrels per day (b/d) in 2016.

U.S. Rig Count is up 252 rigs from last year's count of 502, with oil rigs up 202, gas rigs up 49, and miscellaneous rigs up 1. Canadian Rig Count is up 166 rigs from last year's count of 175, with oil rigs up 123 and gas rigs up 43.