GAZPROM - October 4 Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Rainer Seele, Chairman of the Executive Board of OMV, signed at the 8th St. Petersburg International Gas Forum a Memorandum on Strategic Cooperation.

GAZPROM - Attention was also paid to the Nord Stream 2 project. Alexey Miller and Pekka Lundmark discussed the ongoing construction of the gas pipeline, stressing the project’s importance and timeliness in terms of the stability of gas supplies to European consumers in the long term.

OGJ - State-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corp. has let a contract for combined subsea work on its KG-DWN-98/2 (“Cluster-2”) deepwater development off eastern India to a consortium of Baker Hughes, a GE company, McDermott International Inc., and L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering, a subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro.

REUTERS - Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 were down 19 cents at $86.10 a barrel by 1133 GMT, having risen to a late 2014 high of $86.74 the day before. U.S. crude futures CLc1 fell 17 cents on the day to $76.24.

U.S. EIA - Crude oil inventories held at Cushing, Oklahoma, decreased by more than half since this time last year, recently falling to lows last reached in 2014. Logistical factors and strong demand for crude oil from both domestic refining and exports markets have contributed to the steep year-over-year decrease.

GAZPROM - The parties pointed to the high efficiency of the bilateral cooperation in the gas industry, emphasizing, inter alia, the reliability of gas supplies, the amount of which had increased by 41 per cent from 2014 to 2017. In the first nine months of 2018, Gazprom had exported 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas to Serbia, a 2.9 per cent rise against the same period of 2017.

NOVATEK - According to the Agreement, the Parties intend to strengthen and develop the strategic partnership and cooperation in integrated gas-to-power projects on a “turn-key” basis inclusive of LNG supply, downstream and power generation, large-, mid- and small-scale LNG liquefaction plants and other topics of mutual interest.

U.S. EIA - During 2017, owners and operators of U.S. nuclear power plants purchased 40 million pounds of uranium from foreign suppliers. Canada, Australia, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan represented the top five countries of origin and together accounted for 84% of total U.S. uranium purchases in 2017.

REUTERS - Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 were at $84.86 per barrel at 0340 GMT, up 6 cents from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were up just 1 cent at $75.24 a barrel.

CNBC - International benchmark Brent crude traded at around $81.87 on Thursday, up around 0.65 percent, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) stood at $72.32, more than 1 percent higher.

U.S. EIA - From January through June of 2018, net natural gas exports from the United States averaged 0.87 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), more than double the average daily net exports during all of 2017 (0.34 Bcf/d). The United States, which became a net natural gas exporter on an annual basis in 2017 for the first time in almost 60 years, has continued to export more natural gas than it imports for five of the first six months in 2018.

REUTERS - The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is important to secure German energy supplies and Russia is a safe and reliable provider, Thomas Bareiss, Germany’s state secretary for energy, said.

IAEA - The Agency’s verification activities in Iran are being carried out based on the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement (CSA) concluded with Iran and the Additional Protocol, that Iran is provisionally implementing. In addition, the Agency is also carrying out verification and monitoring of Iran’s nuclear-related commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

IMF - The UAE economy has been adapting well to a prolonged decline in oil prices since 2014. A gradual recovery in non-oil activity is under way. With oil production and government spending set to rise, overall growth is projected to strengthen to 2.9 percent this year and 3.7 percent next year. Inflation is projected at 3.5 percent this year owing to the introduction of the value-added tax and should ease afterwards. The fiscal deficit is expected to remain stable at about 1.6 percent of GDP this year and turn to a surplus next year. The current account surplus will exceed 7 percent of GDP this year.

PLATTS - Japan continued to press for relief from US sanctions against Iran's oil customers during a meeting in Washington this week and urged US counterparts to consider the impact on the Japanese economy.