FT - The growth of Royal Dutch Shell’s oil and gas operations in the next decade will depend on shale production, its chief executive has said, in the latest sign of western energy groups pinning their hopes for expansion on those “unconventional” resources.

BLOOMBERG - Russia needs to strengthen its position in the global gas market as it’s considered a leading global energy power, President Vladimir Putin said last month. Already the world’s largest exporter of the fuel, the nation is working to boost output with new LNG plants stretching from the Baltic region to the Pacific coast. That will pit the country against the biggest producers of the super-chilled fuel, including Qatar and Australia.

WNN - Brookfield highlighted Westinghouse's "strong market position" as the "largest service provider" to the world's nuclear facilities; its well-established global base of long-term customers; its "attractive" revenue and cash flow profile, with regularly scheduled services provided under long-term contracts; and its "strong reputation", driven by focus on innovation.

REUTERS - Norway’s pipeline gas exports to Europe hit a record high in 2017, exceeding the previous year by almost 7 percent, preliminary data from the country’s offshore gas systems operator Gassco showed on Tuesday.

PETROBRAS - The agreement does not constitute any admission of wrongdoing or misconduct by Petrobras. In the agreement, Petrobras expressly denies liability. This reflects its status as a victim of the acts uncovered by Operation Car Wash, as recognized by Brazilian authorities including the Brazilian Supreme Court. As a victim of the scheme, Petrobras has already recovered R$1.475 billion in restitution in Brazil and will continue to pursue all available legal remedies from culpable companies and individuals.

PLATTS - Indonesia's state-owned Pertamina plans to spend $3.324 billion on its upstream business in 2018, a 21.16% jump year on year.

ROSATOM - Khartoum, 21 December – Rusatom Overseas (a company of ROSATOM) and the Ministry of Water Resources, Irrigation and Electricity of the Republic of the Sudan signed an agreement on the development of NPP construction project in Sudan.

ROSNEFT - Rosneft has spudded the Maria-1 exploration well offshore in the Black Sea. Forecasted oil in place for Zapadno-Chernomorskaya licence area is estimated to exceed 570 million tons.

ROSNEFT - Rosneft and BP have agreed to develop subsoil resources within the Kharampurskoe and Festivalnoye licence areas of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug in northern Russia, with total geological reserves exceeding 880 bcm of gas.

BLOOMBERG - Kuwait Petroleum Corp. signed a 15-year liquefied natural gas import deal with Royal Dutch Shell Plc to help the oil exporting nation meet growing domestic energy demand.

PLATTS - The amount of gas held within the UK's medium-range natural gas storage facilities has fallen by more than 50% since the end of November on the back of high demand allied to weaker UK gas production.

GAZPROM - Pursuant to Gazprom’s investment program for 2018, the overall amount of investments will stand at RUB 1,278.830 billion, with RUB 798.428 billion intended for capital investments, RUB 40.983 billion for the acquisition of non-current assets, and RUB 439.419 billion for long-term financial investments.

GAZPROM - Last year, Gazprom exported a record 179.3 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe. The upward trend continued this year: as early as December 8, 2017, last year’s record was beaten, with total exports reaching 179.8 billion cubic meters of gas.

GAZPROM - “Today, we laid the basis for another pipeline route of Russian gas supplies to China. The project will expand the range of options for satisfying the growing demand for gas in the Chinese market,” said Alexey Miller.

GAZPROM - With LNG demand on the rise, Gazprom is making further efforts in this line of business.