CEDIGAZ - natural gas demand will grow by 1.4%/year between 2016 and 2040 and will play a growing role in the energy mix at the expense of the other fossil fuels. The gradual shift from coal and oil to natural gas and renewables helps reduce the carbon intensity of the energy system as electrification and decarbonisation accelerate over the projection period. The expansion of natural gas markets is supported by both abundant and competitive conventional and unconventional resources, as well as a very rapid growth of spot and flexible LNG trade.

REUTERS - Germany has been assured by the United States that any sanctions imposed on Russia will not affect the building of a gas pipeline to bring Russian gas to Europe, a spokeswoman for the German economy ministry said on Friday.

REUTERS - Japan has protested to China for allowing a gas drilling vessel to operate in disputed waters in the East China Sea, the government said

BAKER HUGHES A GE - U.S. Rig Count is down 5 rigs from last week to 1,047, with oil rigs down 4 to 858, gas rigs down 1 to 187 and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 2. Canada Rig Count is up 12 rigs from last week to 172, with oil rigs up 14 to 117 and gas rigs down 2 to 55.

BLOOMBERG - QATAR Petroleum, the world’s biggest seller of liquefied natural gas, is looking to get even larger, investing US$20 billion in America’s oil and gas fields, at a time when rival U.S. exporters are expanding.

FT - Anadarko has estimated the reserves in its Area 1 acreage off the coast of Mozambique at about 75tn cubic feet, implying a resource life of about 120 years at the initial production rate of 12.88m tonnes of LNG per year, but the consortium intends to expand the plant every five years to add more capacity.

IEA - Global gas demand will grow at an average rate of 1.6% a year, reaching just over 4,100 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2023, up from 3,740 bcm in 2017,

REUTERS - French oil and gas company Total SA expects the global natural gas market to grow far faster than that for crude oil over the next two decades thanks to booming demand for the cleaner-burning fuel in Asia, an outlook that underpinned Total’s recent big investments in the space, Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne said.

REUTERS - Indonesia’s deputy energy minister said on Tuesday Chevron Corp intended to cut planned investment in the Indonesia deepwater development (IDD) gas project to around $6 billion from $12.8 billion.

NOVATEK - According to the MOU, the parties agreed to explore opportunities for KOGAS to enter the Arctic LNG 2 project and possible LNG off-take from the project, participate in the LNG transshipment project in Kamchatka and other infrastructure projects, as well as develop cooperation in LNG trading and logistics optimization, including swap operations.