The COVID-19 pandemic this year has dented oil consumption and brought forward forecasts by energy majors, producers and analysts for when the world's demand for oil may peak.
An Iran-flagged supertanker on Saturday was about to set sail from Venezuelan waters carrying 2 million barrels of heavy crude provided by state-run oil firm PDVSA (PDVSA.UL), according to documents seen by Reuters and vessel tracking services.
U.S. energy firms this week added oil and natural gas rigs for a sixth week in a row as oil prices soared to their highest since 2014, prompting drillers to return to the wellpad.
A global energy crunch is expected to boost oil demand by half a million barrels per day (bpd) and could stoke inflation and slow the world's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday.
Suriname state oil company Staatsolie on Wednesday said it had signed a 30-year production sharing contract with U.S. producer Chevron Corp for the South American country's offshore Block 5.