US commercial crude oil inventories, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, decreased by 5.6 million bbl for the week ended Dec. 1 compared with the previous week. The latest estimate is 448.1 million bbl, which puts oil supplies in the upper range for this time of year, the US Energy Information Administration said. Source: News

Norway’s Ministry of Petroleum and Energy aims to award new production licenses in the 24th Licensing Round before the summer of 2018. The round covered newly opened, frontier acreage including 102 blocks or partial blocks of which nine were in the Norwegian Sea with the remaining 93 blocks in the Barents Sea. Source: News

The US Department of the Interior has asked the appeals court for the Ninth US Judicial Circuit in San Francisco to review and overturn a lower court’s decision in October ordering the US Bureau of Land Management to make oil and gas producers comply with certain methane emissions requirements while the rules are being reviewed. […]

Alberta has pledged $1.4 billion over 7 years to help industries cut emissions of greenhouse gases. The oil sands industry is to be the largest recipient. The government is making $440 million available to it to increase production while reducing emissions as it adjusts to new rules for large emitters. Source: News

PAO Novatek has begun production at its Yamal LNG plant, bringing its 5.5 million-tonne/year first train online. The first cargo is scheduled to load Dec. 8 at Sabetta port onboard the first Arc7 ice-class LNG tanker, Christopher de Margerie, operated by Russian state-owned shipping company Sovcomflot.  Source: News