September 2018

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.

REUTERS - State-owned Orano’s new plant in Tricastin, southern France, will account for a quarter of the world’s 60,000-tonne annual uranium hexafluoride (UF6) production capacity when it fully ramps up in 2021 and is set to have the industry’s lowest costs, the company said.

U.S. EIA - EIA expects Brent spot prices will average $73/b in 2018 and $74/b in 2019. EIA expects West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices will average about $6/b lower than Brent prices in 2018 and in 2019. NYMEX WTI futures and options contract values for December 2018 delivery that traded during the five-day period ending September 6, 2018, suggest a range of $56/b to $85/b encompasses the market expectation for December WTI prices at the 95% confidence level.

BAKER HUGHES A GE - The worldwide rig count for August 2018 was 2,278, up 27 from the 2,251 counted in July 2018, and up 162 from the 2,116 counted in August 2017.

REUTERS - Benchmark Brent crude oil rose $1.09 a barrel, or 1.4 percent, to a high of $77.92 and was trading at $77.85 by 0900 GMT. U.S. light crude was 70 cents higher at $68.45.

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.”

REUTERS - China’s demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) is expected to grow by 20 percent to 25 percent in 2018 despite heightened trade tensions with the United States, Qatari Energy Minister Mohammed al-Sada said.

REUTERS - Qatargas said on Monday it had agreed on a 22-year deal with PetroChina International Co, a unit of PetroChina Co, to supply China with around 3.4 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) annually, as the nation stepped up efforts to combat air pollution.

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.