ROSATOM - Cairo, Egypt - On December 11, 2017, Director General of ROSATOM Alexey Likhachev and Egypt’s Minister of Electricity And Renewable Energy Mohamed Shaker signed the Notices to proceed the contracts for the construction of the El Dabaa nuclear power plant.

PLATTS - Taking into account the nominated volume for Friday, Gazprom will have exported 179.8 Bcm to what it calls the Far Abroad -- Europe and Turkey, but not the countries of the former Soviet Union -- higher than last year's then record high of 179.3 Bcm.

“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.”

Russia has three oil export terminals on its Arctic coast. Shipments began from Lukoil PJSC's 240,000 barrel a day Varandey terminal in 2008. It now handles about 150,000 daily barrels from nearby fields. Gazprom Neft's Prirazlomnoye field produces approximately 80,000 barrels a day, with a target capacity of 130,000. The same company's 170,000 barrel a day Arctic Gate terminal started operations this year and exports about 150,000 barrels a day from the Novoportovskoye field. Crude from all three terminals is shipped in shuttle tankers to Murmansk, from where cargoes are sent on larger vessels to Europe.

ROSATOM - On the 6th of December 2017, at 19:53, the operating personnel of Rostov NPP (Volgodonsk, a branch of Rosenergoatom which is part of ROSATOM’s Power Division, the largest of all divisions) successfully loaded first fuel assemblies into the reactor of Unit 4.

IMF - Overall, the system is stable. We have had a turbulent period in the last couple of years. Bad loans increased, and profits and credit growth slowed down. This period seems to have come to an end and the economy and the banking sector are getting healthier.

МИНЭНЕРГО РОССИИ - ОПЕК оставляет в силе решения, принятые 30 ноября 2017 года; в «Декларацию о сотрудничестве» вносится поправка, согласно которой ее срок действия охватывает весь 2018 год с января по декабрь 2018 года, при этом входящие и участвующие в кооперации не входящие в ОПЕК страны обязуются обеспечить полное и своевременное исполнение условий «Декларации о сотрудничестве» и скорректировать объемы добычи в соответствии с достигнутыми на добровольной основе договоренностями.

REUTERS - The outcome represents a successful compromise between de facto OPEC leader Saudi Arabia (which wanted to announce an extension throughout 2018) and non-OPEC heavyweight Russia (which wanted to avoid giving such a long commitment).

МИНЭНЕРГО РОССИИ - «Мы успешно и конструктивно провели переговоры по продлению сделки. Мы удовлетворены результатами балансировки рынка, сокращением излишков нефти и нефтепродуктов, снижением волатильности цен, а также возврату инвестиционной активности в отрасли. В тоже время мы также единодушно подтвердили то, что мы находимся лишь в середине пути, и для того, чтобы достичь окончательной цели по балансировке рынка, нам нужно продолжить совместные усилия».

PLATTS - Saudi Arabia reasserted its leadership of the oil market Thursday after brokering its desired extension of output cuts with OPEC and non-OPEC partners through to the end of 2018. The deal -- agreed after nearly nine hours of negotiations in Vienna -- kept its new ally Russia onside and prevented a sell-off that many analysts had feared.