Equinor ASA (OSE: EQNR, NYSE EQNR) has agreed with Lundin Petroleum AB to divest a 16 percent shareholding in Lundin Petroleum for a direct interest of 2.6 percent in the Johan Sverdrup field and a cash consideration of around USD 650 million.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were down $0.79 at $56.55 per barrel by 0754 GMT. There was no settlement price on Thursday because of the Independence Day holiday in the United States. Front-month Brent crude futures LCOc1 were down $0.23 at $63.07 per barrel. Both benchmarks were set for their biggest weekly falls in five weeks.

Президент России особо подчеркнул, что Россией и Италией накоплен богатый опыт взаимодействия в энергетике. «50 лет назад был заключен первый контракт о поставке природного газа. Россия является крупнейшим экспортером газа на итальянский рынок, в прошлом 2018 году наши поставки в республику достигли 22,8 млрд куб. м газа, что составляет около трети от потребностей экономики страны», - подчеркнул он.

June oil imports from Russia to China were up 31.7% on month from 1.76 million mt in May, hitting a five-month high, and also 124% higher from a year earlier.

British Royal Marines seized a giant Iranian oil tanker in Gibraltar on Thursday for trying to take oil to Syria in violation of EU sanctions, a dramatic step that drew Tehran’s fury and could escalate its confrontation with the West.

The United States has targeted Cuba’s state-run company Cubametales as part of its Venezuela-related sanctions, according to a notice posted on the U.S. Treasury Department’s website on Wednesday.

China has lifted restrictions on foreign investment in its conventional oil and gas upstream and city gas distribution sectors, in an attempt to boost resource development, and setting the stage to break the monopoly of national oil companies.

Front-month Brent crude futures LCOc1, the international benchmark for oil prices, were down 31 cents or 0.49% at $63.51 per barrel by 1320 GMT. Brent closed up 2.3% on Wednesday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were down 51 cents or 0.89% at $56.83 per barrel. WTI closed up 1.9% on Wednesday.

Главные ограничения для развития, на мой взгляд, – внутренние. И поэтому в своем выступлении сегодня я хотела бы остановиться на том, какую роль в данной ситуации могли бы сыграть финансовый сектор и политика Центрального банка и что нужно с точки зрения экономической политики в целом, чтобы ситуация изменилась. Ответ на этот вопрос известен: нужно снять структурные ограничения.

At its last board meeting in June, the central bank considered holding the key rate and cutting it by 50 basis points but eventually trimmed it by 25 basis points to 7.50%, Nabiullina said. “Other things being equal, we are trying to move in moderate steps for the economy to adapt to our new decisions,” she said in an interview with Reuters cleared for publication on Wednesday.