PLATTS - The Southern Gas Corridor has received a waiver from US sanctions against Iran's energy customers, an expected win for the project, designed to transport 16 Bcm/year of Caspian natural gas to Turkey and southern Europe while bypassing Russia.

PLATTS - Russia's July crude oil and condensate output rose 1.4% month on month to 11.215 million b/d, in line with Russia's pledge in late June to boost output under the deal with OPEC and other non-OPEC producers, preliminary data by the Central Dispatching Unit, the statistical arm of the energy ministry, showed Thursday.

REUTERS - The bill includes restrictions on new Russian sovereign debt transactions, energy and oil projects and Russian uranium imports, and new sanctions on Russian political figures and oligarchs.

BANK OF RUSSIA - On 27 July 2018, the Bank of Russia Board of Directors decided to keep the key rate at 7.25% per annum. Though annual inflation remains below the target, it is tending to return to 4%. The Bank of Russia forecasts that consumer prices will grow by 3.5–4% year-on-year at the end of 2018 and annual inflation will temporarily overshoot 4% in 2019 due to the planned increase of the value added tax. The annual consumer price growth rate will return to 4% in early 2020.

PLATTS - "We [expect] that some 200,000-250,000 b/d, out of the 300,000 b/d cut under the production cut deal, will be restored [this month]," Novak said on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, according to a statement by the ministry's press office.

NYT - Demand for natural gas — a cleaner-burning fossil fuel than coal or oil — is rising worldwide, and the United States is a growing supplier of liquefied natural gas, or L.N.G. The European Union, meanwhile, wants to diversify its energy supply, which remains somewhat dependent on Russia, with which it has a difficult relationship.

PLATTS - "I have not seen this bill, we need to study it from a legal point of view, but based on what the media has written about it, this is, in my opinion an absurd bill that offsets all market rules," Novak told journalists, Prime reported.

PLATTS - "Our own budget is based on a price of $63/b. Today we see that prices are around $75/b, I think that prices will be at around this level -- $75, or a maximum of $80/b," Sechin said when asked about his expectations for price levels by the end of 2018.

REUTERS - Two thirds said they supported the construction of the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline because it would help provide Germany with a more reliable supply of natural gas.

OGJ - “Russia already has improved its relations with Iran. Given its foreign policy stance toward the US, this could grow if it believes it would undermine the US position. Russia is taking a long-term view. It sees several obstacles, which it is determined to overcome.”