Near-curve contracts are seen edging higher on crude gains. On the spot, the Dutch TTF day-ahead was trading at Eur15.30/MWh, down 2.5 euro cent/MWh from Wednesday's close. German prices were also seen ticking down, with the NCG spot contract down 15 euro cent at Eur15.65/MWh, while the GASPOOL spot was 2.5 euro cent lower at Eur15.40/MWh.

Speech by Alexey Miller at “Global Gas Markets: Energy Policy and Energy Security” Panel Session held as part of St. Petersburg International Economic Forum

Total petroleum deliveries in April moved up by 1.7 percent from April 2016 to average 19.6 million barrels per day. These were the highest April deliveries in nine years, since 2008. Compared with March, total domestic petroleum deliveries, a measure of U.S. petroleum demand, decreased 0.3 percent. For year to date, total domestic petroleum deliveries moved up slightly by 0.1 percent compared to the same period last year to average 19.4 million barrels per day.

Preliminary production figures for April 2017 show an average daily production of 2 111 000 barrels of oil, NGL and condensate, which is an decrease of 38 000 barrels per day (approx. 2 percent) compared to March.

One of the highest priorities in Russia's gas export and marketing strategy is establishing its own southern corridor for gas exports to Europe, in competition with the EU-backed project.

Nord Stream 2 AG signed financing agreements for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project with ENGIE, OMV, Shell, Uniper and Wintershall.

Total petroleum deliveries in March moved up 0.2 percent from March 2016 to average nearly 19.7 million barrels per day. These were the highest March deliveries in nine years, since 2008. For the first quarter of 2017, total domestic petroleum deliveries, a measure of U.S. petroleum demand, were up 0.4 percent compared with the first quarter of 2016 to average 19.5 million barrels per day. These were the highest first quarter deliveries since 2008. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) April 7, 2017 report, the U.S. added 98,000 jobs in March. In addition, the unemployment rate (4.5 percent) and the number of unemployed persons (7.2 million) were down from prior month and the prior year.

Ukraine's transit of Russian oil for exports to Europe in March rose 42% year on year to 1.25 million mt, state oil shipper UkrTransNafta said

Ukraine has been urged to finalise gas sector reforms by Janez Kopac, director of Energy Community that regroups EU and non-EU states in Europe.

Russian state gas exporter Gazprom, which supplies around a third of the EU's gas, with much coming via Ukraine, is keen for Nord Stream 2 to be built by 2019, when it must renegotiate gas transit fees with Kiev.