BAKER HUGHES A GE - U.S. Rig Count is down 4 rigs from last week to 1,044, with oil rigs down 2 to 859, gas rigs down 3 to 183, and miscellaneous rigs up 1 to 2. Canada Rig Count is unchanged from last week at 223 rigs, with oil rigs down 2 to 152 and gas rigs up 2 to 71.

REUTERS - U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $68.87 per barrel at 0647 GMT, down 9 cents from their last settlement. Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $73.40 per barrel, down 5 cents from their last close.

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.

BLOOMBERG - Saudi Aramco, as the state-owned company is known, cut pricing for September shipments of all grades to Asia, its largest market. Aramco set the premium for Arab Light crude to Asia at $1.20 a barrel above the Middle East benchmark, it said Thursday in an emailed price list. The reduction of 70 cents for Arab Light was the second consecutive monthly cut for the grade and was 10 cents deeper than the median estimate of five traders in a Bloomberg survey.

PLATTS - Iraqi southern crude oil exports in July surged to a record high of 3.543 million b/d, data from the oil ministry showed Wednesday, despite OPEC's second largest oil producer facing major protests near its key oil assets.

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.

U.S. FRB - In view of realized and expected labor market conditions and inflation, the Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 1-3/4 to 2 percent. The stance of monetary policy remains accommodative, thereby supporting strong labor market conditions and a sustained return to 2 percent inflation.

IMF - Amid a marked growth deceleration, some of South Africa’s economic and social achievements after the end of apartheid have recently unwound. While the economy is globally positioned, sophisticated, and diversified, gaps in physical infrastructure and education create large productivity differentials across sectors. Low consumer and business confidence has dampened productivity growth. Fast growing debt has constrained policy space. As a result, per-capita growth has turned negative, the poverty rate stands at around 40 percent, unemployment has crept up to 27 percent—almost twice that level for the youth—and income inequality is one of the highest globally.

TRANSCANADA - TransCanada Corporation (TSX, NYSE: TRP) (TransCanada or the Company) today announced net income attributable to common shares for second quarter 2018 of $785 million or $0.88 per share compared to net income of $881 million or $1.01 per share for the same period in 2017.

NOBLE - Noble Corporation plc (NYSE: NE, the Company) reported a net loss attributable to the Company for the three months ended June 30, 2018 of $628 million, or $2.55 per diluted share, on revenues of $258 million. The results included a non-cash charge totaling $793 million, or $2.06 per diluted share, ($507 million, net of tax and noncontrolling interests) relating to the impairment of three rigs and certain capital spares. Excluding the non-cash charge, the Company's net loss attributable to Noble Corporation for the three months ended June 30, 2018 would have been $121 million, or $0.49 per diluted share.

REUTERS - Brent spot crude oil futures dropped 30 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $73.91 a barrel by 0435 GMT, adding to a 1.8 percent loss in the previous session. U.S. crude futures were down 38 cents, or 0.6 percent, at $68.38 a barrel, having dropped nearly 2 percent on Tuesday.

U.S. EIA - U.S. energy expenditures declined for the fifth consecutive year, reaching $1.0 trillion in 2016, a 9% decrease in real terms from 2015. Adjusted for inflation, total energy expenditures in 2016 were the lowest since 2003. Expressed as a percent of gross domestic product (GDP), total energy expenditures were 5.6% in 2016, the lowest since at least 1970.

SHANA - Iran exported an average of 2.3 million barrels per day of crude oil to Asian and European countries during the four months. This is while exports for last calendar year's corresponding period stood at 2.115 mbd.

U.S. BEA - The U.S. direct investment abroad position, or cumulative level of investment, increased $427.3 billion to $6,013.3 billion at the end of 2017 from $5,586.0 billion at the end of 2016, the foreign direct investment in the United States position increased $260.4 billion to $4,025.5 billion at the end of 2017 from $3,765.1 billion at the end of 2016.

BP - BP’s profit for the second quarter and half year was $2,799 million and $5,268 million respectively, compared with $144 million and $1,593 million for the same periods in 2017.