August 2019

International benchmark Brent crude futures were at $58.16 a barrel by 0829 GMT, down 37 cents from their previous settlement. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were at $53.89 per barrel, down 61 cents from their last close.

Now, the situation of the oil demand growth is becoming even more uncertain: the US-China trade dispute remains unresolved and in September new tariffs are due to be imposed.

U.S. natural gas demand is rising as power generators shut coal plants and burn more gas for electricity and as rapidly expanding liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals turn more of the fuel into super-cooled liquid for export.

Russian gas sales on Gazprom Export's Electronic Sales Platform (ESP) rebounded above 100 million cu m in Thursday's auction, continuing a trend of steady strong sales on the platform this month.

European LNG imports in July fell 27.6% month on month to 6.8 Bcm due to weaker European pricing and a turndown in Qatari production, but a rebound in flows is expected in September

Russia's international reserves rose to USD520 billion in July 2019, the highest level since the global financial crisis, and will increase further to USD537 billion in 2019 and USD591 billion by 2021 supported by continued current account surpluses (5.2% of GDP in 2019 easing to 2.5% in 2021) and the sterilisation of above-budgeted oil revenues. Reserve coverage will rise to a robust 13.6 months of CXP by end-2019 and remain close to this level in 2020-2021, at more than double the forecast 'BBB' median. The international liquidity ratio (466% in 2019) is the highest in the 'BBB' rating category.

The Chinese economy is facing external headwinds and an uncertain environment. GDP growth slowed to 6.6 percent in 2018, driven by necessary financial regulatory reforms and softening external demand. Growth is projected to moderate to 6.2 percent in 2019 as the planned policy stimulus partially offsets the negative impact from the US tariff hike on US$ 200 billion of Chinese exports. Headline inflation rose due to rising food prices and is expected to remain around 2½ percent.

Five Rosatom staff members died and a further three people were injured in a tragic accident that took place during tests on a liquid propulsion system involving isotopes at a military facility in Arkhangelsk region.

Brent crude futures were at $57.80 a barrel by 0854 GMT, up 42 cents from their previous settlement. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were at $52.80 per barrel, up 26 cents.

Aramco signed a letter of intent to take a 20% stake in Reliance’s oil-to-chemicals business in one of the largest ever foreign investments in India, Reliance announced.