Saudi oil output hit a record 9.51 million barrels per day in 2012, when the country lifted output to offset the impact of supply disruptions in Libya and a 1 July EU embargo on Iranian crude shipments. Saudi Arabia exported about 6.9 million bbls/d of oil last year, of which more than 50% went to Asia and nearly 17% to the US. [Bloomberg]

ExxonMobil is in talks to invest in InterOIl’s Papua New Guinea gas assets, which could underpin future expansions of the major’s $19 billion PNG LNG project. Adding more LNG capacity to its existing project rather than pursuing the more expensive option of building an entirely separate plant may not sit well with the government of Papua New Guinea, which is pushing for as much investment as possible. [WSJ]

On the other side of the world, Shell has backed out of talks with US independent Anadarko for a stake in the latter’s massive gas discoveries offshore Mozambique because the asking price was too high. [WSJ]

Argentina’s YPF has lost an international arbitration case that could cost the company more than $1 billion. The case is over YPF’s suspension of gas exports to Brazil in 2004, when the company was controlled by Spain’s Repsol. [Reuters]