OPEC, for some quiet moments..

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Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude shipper, trimmed exports to a 21-month low in February as local refineries took advantage of more abundant supplies and processed a record amount of crude. Oil exports fell to 6.95 MMbpd, the lowest since May 2015, from 7.7 MMbpd in January, according to data published Tuesday on the Riyadh-based Joint Organisations Data Initiative website. The kingdom boosted production to 10 MMbpd from 9.7 MMbpd, the data show.

Saudi oil exports hit 21-month low as kingdom sticks to cuts

Citigroup Inc joined Goldman Sachs Group in backing commodities, saying it’s the season to have faith in raw materials and oil will probably rally to the mid-$60s by the end of the year. While U.S. shale output may come “roaring back” amid higher crude prices, production curbs by OPEC and its allies should help offset that increase over the next six to nine months, Citi analysts including Ed Morse and Seth Kleinman wrote in an April 17 report. The producers need to extend their deal to cut supplies through the end of the year amid concerns that Russia is lagging behind on its pledged reductions, the bank said.

Citigroup sees $60 oil as OPEC combats roaring U.S. shale

The oil boom in the Permian basin, America’s most prolific crude play, has become a gas boom. With its $2 billion takeover of  EagleClaw Midstream Ventures,  Blackstone Group on Monday became the latest company to bet on gas in a basin better known for its oil reserves. Its interest lies in “associated gas” -- a term used to describe the gas that comes out of an oil well along with the crude. Gas volumes will rise fivefold in five years on the EagleClaw system, said David Foley, CEO of Blackstone Energy Partners.

Blackstone bets there's gas money to be made in the oil patch

The counterbalanced pumping unit was invented nearly a century ago, and it’s still hard at work in the oil patch, virtually unchanged, pumping oil out of the ground. There’s been a recent innovation, though: Algorithms adjust the extraction flow based on computer monitoring hundreds of feet below. Finally. “Onshore North America used to be a market where state-of-the-art technology went to be humiliated,” said Tom Curran, an energy analyst at FBR Capital Markets “You’ve had a clear shift occur where onshore North America for the first time in recent history has become a technology play.”

Operators finally embrace digital technologies to improve production efficiency