PLATTS - Ukraine is looking at different ways to use its vast gas transit network should Kiev fail to agree a new transit deal with Russia's Gazprom once their existing contract expires at the end of 2019, a senior Ukrainian politician said.

BLOOMBERG - Gazprom PJSC, the Russian company that’s the dominant exporter of natural gas into Europe, is exploring ways to produce emissions-free hydrogen from its fuel and create a 153 billion-euro ($175 billion) a year market by 2050

GAZPROM - In the course of the meeting, the parties signed an Amendment to the contract on gas supplies to Austria. According to the document, gas deliveries to Austria will be increased by 1 billion cubic meters per year beyond the contractual amount for the entire contract period.

BLOOMBERG - Russia’s crude and condensate output averaged 11.412 million barrels a day last month, according to data from the Energy Ministry’s CDU-TEK unit released Friday. That’s about 160,000 barrels a day more than two years ago, before Russia agreed to cut supply with OPEC. It’s a post-Soviet record, and not far off the highest-ever output.

FT - Russia has vowed to help Iran counter US attempts to throttle its oil sales when sanctions come into effect next week, saying it will continue trading Tehran’s crude in defiance of Washington.

EBRD - Economic growth in Russia is expected to hold steady at 1.5 per cent this year and into 2019 as the positive impact of higher oil prices is offset by the negative economic consequences of sanctions imposed by the United States of America and the European Union (EU), said the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

REUTERS - Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Saturday there was no reason for Russia to freeze or cut its oil production levels, noting that there were risks that global oil markets could be facing a deficit.

МИНЭНЕРГО РОССИИ - «Общий объем поставок в 2017 г. составил 23,8 млрд куб. м газа, по состоянию на 1 октября 2018 г. в Италию поставлено 18,3 млрд куб. м. По итогам 2017 г. Италия заняла 3-е место по объему поставок российского «голубого топлива» после Германии и Турции», - сообщил глава Минэнерго.

МИНЭНЕРГО РОССИИ - «Мировой спрос на СПГ к 2035 году удвоится и составит 600 млн тонн, основным локомотивом станут страны АТР, Китай и Индия в частности. При этом, строящийся и одобренные СПГ-заводы обеспечат потребность в газе только до середины следующего десятилетия. После 2025 года для России появляется окно возможностей, суммарно для удовлетворения спроса нужно будет построить еще 250 млн т», - отметил Министр. Россия может обеспечить до 40% от уровня дополнительного спроса, заявил Александр Новак.

FT - That the Nord Stream 2 pipeline will increase Europe’s dependence on Russian natural gas is a geographic and arithmetical fact. But buried in the heated rhetoric — now rising to US sanction threats — over how much that matters, is just how inexpensive it would be for Europe to purchase supply diversity with liquefied natural gas from the US.