PLATTS - China's state-controlled oil giants are sitting on record-high cash pile of $35 billion and their free cash flow generation is close to double-digit yields, paving the way for more mergers and acquisitions along with higher oil prices over coming years,

BLOOMBERG - Energy companies will approve investments for more than 150 million tons a year of new supply capacity over the next four years, according to the report. By comparison, global consumption was 286 million tons in 2017. Projects in Qatar, Papua New Guinea, Russia and the U.S. are most economically appealing, followed by Mozambique, Australian expansion projects and an Alaskan mega-project.

REUTERS - British trade minister Liam Fox said on Wednesday that London would continue to welcome foreign investment, after a U.S. panel rejected a Chinese acquisition of a U.S. money transfer company on national security concerns.

PLATTS - Indonesia's state-owned Pertamina plans to spend $3.324 billion on its upstream business in 2018, a 21.16% jump year on year.

GAZPROM - Pursuant to Gazprom’s investment program for 2018, the overall amount of investments will stand at RUB 1,278.830 billion, with RUB 798.428 billion intended for capital investments, RUB 40.983 billion for the acquisition of non-current assets, and RUB 439.419 billion for long-term financial investments.

NPD - On Tuesday, the licensees, led by operator VNG, submitted a Plan for Development and Operation (PDO) for Fenja in the Norwegian Sea. Investments are expected to total approx. NOK 10 billion.

NPD - On Tuesday, operator Repsol submitted a new Plan for Development and Operation (PDO) for the Yme field in the North Sea. More eight billion kroner will be invested in the development. The planned start-up is 2020.

Petrobras and ExxonMobil signed a memorandum of understanding regarding a strategic alliance to jointly identify and evaluate potential business opportunities.

GAZPROM - Alexey Miller and Ali Kardor, Iran’s Deputy Minister of Petroleum, CEO of National Iranian Oil Company, inked a Roadmap. Pursuant to the document, Gazprom will conduct a proof-of-concept study with regard to implementing integrated projects for hydrocarbon production, transmission and processing, including petrochemistry, in Iranian territory.

BP - BP will acquire on completion a 43% equity share in Lightsource for a total consideration of $200 million, paid over three years. The great majority of this investment will fund Lightsource’s worldwide growth pipeline. The company will be renamed Lightsource BP and BP will have two seats on the board of directors.

ROSATOM - On December 10, 2017, the construction start ceremony took place at the Akkuyu NPP site under a limited construction licence issued by the Turkish Atomic Energy Agency (TAEK). Director General of the ROSATOM Alexey Likhachev, and First Deputy Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources of the Turkish Republic, Fatih Donmez, took part in the ceremony.

WBG - The World Bank Group will no longer finance upstream oil and gas, after 2019.

PENNENERGY - Germany's Siemens says it has signed contracts worth some 700 million euros ($824 million) to build two gas-powered electricity plants in Libya.

WNN - Construction of the Iter fusion reactor, being built at Cadarache in the south of France, is now 50% complete, the Iter Organisation has announced. The reactor - construction of which began in 2010 - is scheduled to achieve first plasma in 2025.

“This is for sure a complicated project,” Putin said at a ceremony attended by the project partners and the energy minister of Saudi Arabia. “But those who started this project took a risk, and the risk was justified, and they succeeded.”