IMF - Productivity growth will be the primary determinant of UK living standards in the long run.

The price of oil in 2018 will be volatile with commodity market traders selling on signals of OPEC-Russia “cheating” or members producing more oil than the extended Algiers Agreement output quotas.

ROSATOM - Khartoum, 21 December – Rusatom Overseas (a company of ROSATOM) and the Ministry of Water Resources, Irrigation and Electricity of the Republic of the Sudan signed an agreement on the development of NPP construction project in Sudan.

ROSNEFT - Rosneft has spudded the Maria-1 exploration well offshore in the Black Sea. Forecasted oil in place for Zapadno-Chernomorskaya licence area is estimated to exceed 570 million tons.

ROSNEFT - Rosneft and BP have agreed to develop subsoil resources within the Kharampurskoe and Festivalnoye licence areas of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug in northern Russia, with total geological reserves exceeding 880 bcm of gas.

BLOOMBERG - Kuwait Petroleum Corp. signed a 15-year liquefied natural gas import deal with Royal Dutch Shell Plc to help the oil exporting nation meet growing domestic energy demand.

PLATTS - The amount of gas held within the UK's medium-range natural gas storage facilities has fallen by more than 50% since the end of November on the back of high demand allied to weaker UK gas production.

U.S. Rig Count is up 1 rig from last week to 931, with oil rigs unchanged at 747, gas rigs up 1 to 184, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged. Canada Rig Count is down 28 rigs from last week to 210, with oil rigs down 14 to 120 and gas rigs down 14 to 90.

REUTERS - U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $58.16 a barrel at 0755 GMT, down 20 cents, or 0.3 percent, from their last settlement. Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $64.81 a barrel, down 19 cents, or 0.1 percent.

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.

GAZPROM - Last year, Gazprom exported a record 179.3 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe. The upward trend continued this year: as early as December 8, 2017, last year’s record was beaten, with total exports reaching 179.8 billion cubic meters of gas.

GAZPROM - “Today, we laid the basis for another pipeline route of Russian gas supplies to China. The project will expand the range of options for satisfying the growing demand for gas in the Chinese market,” said Alexey Miller.

GAZPROM - With LNG demand on the rise, Gazprom is making further efforts in this line of business.

PLATTS - Germany's total primary energy consumption for 2017 is forecast to rise by 0.8%, mainly due to strong economic growth, with oil and gas further boosting their market share to 58.3% of the energy mix, German research group AG Energiebilanzen (AGEB) said Thursday.

BEA - Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 3.2 percent in the third quarter of 2017, according to the "third" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the second quarter, real GDP increased 3.1 percent.