Daily News Energy Headlines from January 11, 2018

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News highlights gathered by Industrial Info and IIR Energy (Sugar Land, Texas) dealing with the energy markets.

CRUDE OIL
Brent Tops $70 in London - Brent crude briefly topped $70 a barrel in London for the first time in three years on Thursday, as crude markets continued an almost unblemished run of gains for 2018. (Bloomberg)

EIA Forecasts Flat Prices, Increasing Global Production for Crude Through 2019 - The U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) January Short-Term Energy Outlook forecasts Brent crude oil to average $60 per barrel in 2018 and $61 per barrel in 2019, slightly higher than the $54 average in 2017. In both 2018 and 2019, EIA expects total global crude oil production to be slightly greater than global consumption, with U.S. crude oil production increasing more than any other country. (EIA)

Venezuela's Crude Sales to U.S. in 2017 Lowest Since 1991 - Venezuela's crude oil sales to the United States fell for a second month in a row in December, knocking the year's average to 593,047 barrels per day, the lowest annual level since 1991, according to Thomson Reuters trade flows data. (Reuters)

NATURAL GAS
U.S. Becomes Net Gas Exporter - The U.S. has now become a net exporter of natural gas on an annual basis for the first time since at least 1957. Net exports averaged about 0.4 billion cubic feet per day last year, flipping from net inflows of 1.8 billion in 2016, according to Victoria Zaretskaya, a Washington-based analyst for the U.S. Energy Information Administration. (Bloomberg)

U.S. Pulls Record Amount of Gas from Storage in Cold Snap - U.S. utilities pulled a record 359 billion cubic feet of natural gas from storage during the brutally cold week ended January 5, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Thursday. That was the biggest weekly withdrawal ever, according to federal energy data going back to 1994. (Reuters)

FINANCIAL
SM Energy to Sell Wyoming Holdings - SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) has agreed to sell more than 100,000 acres in the Powder River Basin for $500 million in cash to a private equity-backed producer. The Denver oil producer's sale of 112,200 acres in Wyoming amounts to the exit of all but 20% of its property in the region. (Fuel Fix)

BP Settles California Gas Overcharging Lawsuit - A BP plc (NYSE:BP) unit settled a lawsuit claiming it overcharged California for natural gas, averting a trial before a San Francisco jury with the potential for hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. (Bloomberg)

PIPELINES
Enbridge to Restart Gulf of Mexico Natural Gas Pipeline in February - A U.S. offshore natural gas pipeline could begin restarting operations for some producers next month, about three months after the line was shut due to a fire on a Royal Dutch Shell platform in the Gulf of Mexico, its operator said this week. Enbridge Incorporated (NYSE:ENB), which runs the 1 billion-cubic-foot per-day Garden Banks gas pipeline, notified customers that its work to separate the pipeline from Shell's fire-damaged Enchilada platform will be completed in early February. (Reuters)

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About Industrial Info
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn. For more information on our coverage, send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.com or visit us online at http://www.industrialinfo.com.