U.S. BEA - The U.S. current-account deficit decreased to $101.5 billion (preliminary) in the second quarter of 2018 from $121.7 billion (revised) in the first quarter of 2018, according to statistics released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). The deficit was 2.0 percent of current-dollar gross domestic product (GDP) in the second quarter, down from 2.4 percent in the first quarter.

IMF - Norway is in the midst of a healthy recovery from the oil downturn, supported by positive trends in oil prices and a strengthening labor market. In addition, banks remain profitable and well capitalized. However, household debt continues to increase and house prices have resumed their rise, especially in the Oslo area, after a correction during 2017.

IMF - Beyond Brexit, the UK faces a range of other economic challenges. These include persistently lackluster productivity growth, large public debt, and the wide current account deficit. The UK’s sound macroeconomic framework, regulatory environment, and deep capital and flexible labor markets will be advantages in implementing reforms to address them.

REUTERS - State oil giant Saudi Aramco will spend more than 500 billion riyals ($133 billion) on oil and gas drilling over the next decade, a senior company executive said on Monday.

IMF - Russia’s economy is recovering from the 2015–16 recession, thanks to the authorities’ effective policy response and higher oil prices. Output increased by 1.5 percent in 2017 on the back of robust domestic demand, but short of expectations. Inflation has fallen well below the CBR's 4 percent target since July 2017, driven by a weaker-than-expected recovery, tight monetary policy, as well as temporary effects on food and energy prices.

REUTERS - Saudi Arabia has started marketing U.S. dollar-denominated sukuk, or Islamic bonds, with the issue expected to be around $2 billion in size, a document showed on Wednesday.

BLOOMBERG - “Based on fundamentals, Russian sovereign risk is still extremely attractive for investors,” he said. “They’d be hard-pushed to find this kind of yield versus risk anywhere else.”

GULF TIMES - HE Minister of Energy and Industry Dr Mohammed bin Saleh al-Sada affirmed that Qatar’s large gas reserves require an expansion effort, adding this is why Qatar has decided to increase this sector’s growth by 30%.

PLATTS - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said there is significant potential for energy cooperation with Qatar, after the Middle Eastern LNG giant's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani announced plans to invest Eur10 billion ($11.5 billion) in the German economy over the next five years.

MEOG - Mubadala Petroleum, Gazprom Neft and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF, the Russian Federation's sovereign wealth fund) announced the establishment of a joint venture to develop oil fields in the Tomsk and Omsk regions of Western Siberia.

PLATTS - Germany's Siemens AG and Bangladesh's state-run North-West Power Generation Company Ltd Friday signed a joint development agreement to develop a 3,600 MW power plant at Payra in southern Bangladesh that will run on regasified LNG.

U.S. DL - The unemployment rate remained at 3.9 percent in August, and the number of unemployed persons, at 6.2 million, changed little.

GAZPROM - Pursuant to Gazprom’s revised draft investment program for 2018, the overall amount of investments will stand at RUB 1,496.328 billion, which is RUB 217.498 billion more than was envisaged in the investment program approved in December 2017.

ROSNEFT - following the approval of the Rosneft open market share buyback program (the «Program») by the Board of Directors, Rosneft appointed UBS as an independent agent to conduct the open market share buyback on behalf of the Company.

MEOG - Saudi Aramco has put its $15 billion Marjan Crude Increment Programme up for tender, according to multiple posts on ProTenders and BNC Network.