PLATTS - Russia's Gazprom and five European energy companies are committed to fully financing Russia's 55 Bcm/year Nord Stream 2 natural gas link to Germany if no external financing is raised

MEOG - Chemicals company BASF and investment company LetterOne signed a transaction agreement to merge their respective oil and gas businesses in a joint venture, which will operate under the name Wintershall DEA.

REUTERS -India’s annual economic growth surged to a more than two-year high of 8.2 percent in the three months through June, giving Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government a political boost in the final year of his term before elections.

PLATTS - LNG produced from Russia's Yamal LNG project look set to stay in Europe in the short term on the back of high European natural gas hub pricing allied to firmer shipping rates due to tight Atlantic tonnage,

PLATTS - A 10% tariff on US liquefied natural gas is not steep enough to make shipping cargoes to China unprofitable, but it adds an obstacle for the second generation of American terminals, industry observers said.

TOGY - Qatar is seeking to expand its LNG capacity via the addition of four trains, targeting 110 million tonnes per year (tpy) by 2023.

ET - In a major breakthrough, Pakistan and Russia are set to sign a $10-billion offshore gas pipeline deal on September 27 in Moscow, a project planned by the latter to capture the energy market of Pakistan.

OPEC - Total primary energy demand is expected to increase by 91 mboe/d between 2015 and 2040 to reach 365 mboe/d in 2040

GAZPROM - The parties discussed strategic cooperation, focusing on Russian gas exports. It was noted that, according to estimates, in the period from January 1 through September 23, 2018, Gazprom had delivered 7.8 billion cubic meters of gas to Austria, an increase of 34.5 per cent from the same period of last year.

OGJ - Total SA made a natural gas discovery on the Glendronach prospect offshore UK West of Shetland that it believes can be commercialized quickly and at low cost by leveraging the existing Laggan-Tormore infrastructure.

NOVATEK - PAO NOVATEK (“NOVATEK” and/or the “Company”) announced today that its wholly owned subsidiary, NOVATEK Gas and Power Asia Pte. Ltd. has shipped its first LNG cargo to the Brazilian market with LNG produced from the Yamal LNG project. The cargo was delivered to the Bahia Regasification Terminal owned by Petrobras.

API - “Placing constraints on exports of American-made energy works against America’s energy future,” said API Chief Economist Dean Foreman. “While the picture is still a bit muddied, it seems to be getting clearer – the trade war appears to be limiting the United States’ access to crude export markets. As we produce more energy here at home, the U.S. needs markets for its products in order for our economy to continue to grow. There’s no question that the 1.6 MBD increase U.S. petroleum net imports, which undid a full year’s worth progress, is a setback to the United States’ goal of energy dominance.”

XINHUA - China imported 4.71 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in August, up 51.5 percent year on year, the country's customs authority said Sunday.

U.S. EIA - Second-quarter 2018 financial results for 45 U.S. oil exploration and production companies that the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) regularly tracks reveal that most companies increased their capital expenditure budgets for 2018 compared with initial budgets made at the beginning of the year.

U.S. EIA - Energy companies’ free cash flow—the difference between cash from operations and capital expenditure—was $119 billion for the four quarters ending June 30, 2018, the largest four-quarter sum during 2013–18 Companies reduced debt for seven consecutive quarters, contributing to the lowest long-term debt-to-equity ratio since third-quarter 2014