REUTERS - On Tuesday, Washington unveiled some $50 billion worth of proposed tariffs on Chinese imports and on Thursday Trump upped the ante, directing U.S. trade officials to identify tariffs on another $100 billion of Chinese imports. He said this was “in light of China’s unfair retaliation” against the earlier U.S. trade action. China responded by saying it was fully prepared to respond with a “fierce counter strike” if the United States followed through on the new threat.

IEA - Global energy demand rose by 2.1% in 2017, more than twice the previous year’s rate, boosted by strong global economic growth, with oil, gas and coal meeting most of the increase in demand for energy, and renewables seeing impressive gains.

REUTERS - The final investment total for the 200 GW of generation, including the solar panels, battery storage and a manufacturing facility for panels in Saudi Arabia, will eventually total around $200 billion, Son said.

PLATTS - The Russian energy ministry said there are many pilot projects introducing blockchain to Russia's energy sector in the development and discussion stage, which could have a "potentially significant" impact on optimizing oil and gas companies' costs.

FT - The loans bring total Chinese energy finance in Africa since 2000 to $34.8bn. While this is well behind the $69bn lent in Europe and Central Asia, the $62bn in Latin America and the $60bn in Asia over the same period, the 2017 data illustrate Africa’s growing importance.

PLATTS - New York Governor Andrew Cuomo Friday announced that 26 large-scale renewable energy projects were selected to help the state meet its clean energy goals, and he pushed back against the Trump administration's offshore oil and gas drilling plans.

WNN - Nuclear energy has faced serious challenges in recent years because of several factors: competition from low gas prices, subsidised renewables and slow growth in electricity demand in certain markets. But because of several powerful forces we are seeing signs that this year nuclear energy will come roaring back.

МИНЭНЕРГО РОССИИ - Александр Новак поделился своим видением будущего углеводородной энергетики: «Она обладает огромным потенциалом цифровизации своих процессов, гибкой подстройки под нужды потребителей. Доля углеводородов, безусловно, будет снижаться, но с учетом роста населения, автопарка, спроса на энергию, абсолютное потребление продолжит расти. Если мы хотим надежно обеспечить мир энергией, нам придется найти разумный баланс между традиционной и новой энергетикой».

EXXONMOBIL - Despite efficiency gains, global energy demand will likely increase nearly 25 percent. Nearly all growth will be in non-OECD countries (e.g. China, India), where demand will likely increase about 40 percent, or about the same amount of energy used in the Americas today.

DOE recently released a report that dives into the emerging technology of advanced small modular reactors (SMRs) and their ability to flexibly provide carbon-free power in response to outages caused by severe weather and physical threats to the grid.