2019

IMF - The global expansion has weakened. Global growth for 2018 is estimated at 3.7 percent, as in the October 2018 World Economic Outlook (WEO) forecast, despite weaker performance in some economies, notably Europe and Asia. The global economy is projected to grow at 3.5 percent in 2019 and 3.6 percent in 2020, 0.2 and 0.1 percentage point below last October’s projections.

U.S. EIA - Crude oil production from the major US onshore regions is forecast to increase 62,000 b/d month-over-month in February from 8,117 to 8,179 thousand barrels/day , gas production to increase 849 million cubic feet/day from 76,708 to 77,557 million cubic feet/day .

SHANA - Composed of two 930-km pipelines, TurkStream is able to supply over 30bcm/year of natural gas from Russia to supply Turkey's needs. After the construction of the offshore section, the onshore section on Turkey's soil remains to be constructed for this project to be completed. According to schedule, Russia's gas is planned to be exported to Turkey via this pipeline by end-2019.

NPD - Preliminary production figures for December 2018 show an average daily production of 1 849 000 barrels of oil, NGL and condensate, which is a decrease of 26 000 barrels per day compared to November.

REUTERS - Saudi Aramco, the world’s top oil producer, is looking to acquire natural gas assets in the United States and is willing to spend “billions of dollars” there as it aims to become a global gas player, the company’s CEO said on Tuesday.

PLATTS - China's annual coal production in 2018 reached 3.55 billion mt, rising 5.2% year on year as the government replaced outdated production capacity with higher-quality coal supply, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement.

PLATTS - The government-appointed coal commission is finalizing recommendations this week for the phase-out of coal-fired power stations, which provide 35% of Germany's generation mix.

WNN - The mobile nuclear reactor is required to produce a threshold power of 1-10 MWe of generation, which it must be able to produce for at least three years without refuelling. It must weigh less than 40 tonnes and be sized for transportability by truck, ship, and C-17 aircraft. Designs must be "inherently safe", ensuring that a meltdown is "physically impossible" in various complete failure scenarios such as loss of power or cooling, and must use ambient air as their ultimate heat sink, as well as being capable of capable of passive cooling.

GT - Russia’s central bank dumped $101bn last year in its biggest-ever shift away from the US currency amid fears of new sanctions. But the Kremlin’s drive to wean the rest of the economy off the greenback has been slower going.

AN - Saudi Arabia and the UAE have launched a joint cryptocurrency during the first meeting of the Saudi-Emirati Coordination council Saturday in Abu Dhabi, UAE’s national press agency WAM said.