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According to the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA), US crude oil production grew by 17% in 2018 to a yearly average of 10.96 mb/d, reaching a new record. Domestic production even reached 11.96 mb/d in December 2018, the highest monthly level of crude oil production. US crude oil production has increased significantly over the past 10 years, driven mainly by the development of tight rock formations. Companies operating in these areas have increased the use of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing techniques. Tight oil production accounted for around 60% of total crude oil production in the United States in 2018.

The EIA predicts that this growth in crude oil production will continue over the 2019-2020 period and will reach 12.3 mb/d in 2019 and 13 mb/d in 2020. Most of the production will come from Texas, which made up 40% of the national total (about 4.4 mb/d) in 2018 and has been holding the top position in nearly every year since 1970 except for 1988 and from 1999 through 2011, when offshore production from the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) area was higher. Texas’s production rose by another 0.95 mb/d in 2018, mostly due to the significant growth within the Permian region, which made up nearly 60% of the total US increase. The EIA expects three major tight oil plays in the Permian Basin, namely Spraberry, Bone Spring, and Wolfcamp, to account for half of cumulative tight oil production until 2050 (it should reach 12 mb/d in 2050), followed by the Bakken plays (19%) and Eagle Ford plays (17%).

Global oil and gas company Shell has signed an agreement with the Chinese state-held oil and gas company Sinopec to study the development possibility of a shale oil block in East China (Dongying trough of Shengli, in Shandong) as parts of efforts to unlock the country’s potentially massive unconventional resource.

The Lebanese government has approved a plan to reform the domestic electricity sector, which now requires to be approved by the Parliament.

According to Russian gas giant Gazprom, gas exports to France grew by 58% over the last 5 years, reaching 12.9 bcm/year in 2018, an increase of 5.4% compared with 2017 (12.3 bcm/year). Russian gas imports to European countries are soaring and Gazprom’s gas exports to Europe hit a new record in 2018 at nearly 202 bcm (+3.8%).

According to data unveiled by Switzerland’s Energy Office, 68% of the electricity consumed in Switzerland in 2017 came from renewable energy sources, compared with 62% in 2016 (including power generation and imports).

The governments of Iraq and Iran have agreed to cooperate on the Naft Shahr and Khorramshahr shared oil fields, which are located in Iranian territory on the border with Iraq in the Khuzestan province. For this purpose, they will set up a a partnership between Tehran’s Oil Industries Commissioning and Operation Co. (Oico) and its Iraqi counterpart.

French oil and gas company Total and its partners ExxonMobil and Oil Search have signed an agreement with the government of Papua New Guinea defining the fiscal framework for the US$13bn Papua LNG project in Papua New Guinea.

AtomStroyExport (ASE), the engineering subsidiary of the Russian state-held company Rosatom, has started the commissioning phase of the Ostrovets-1 nuclear reactor in Belarus, which comprises testing of equipment of the first and second circuits of the reactor facility, including also include hydraulic tests and circulation flushing.