REUTERS - The United States on Thursday charged seven Russian intelligence officers with conspiring to hack computers and steal data from the nuclear energy company Westinghouse Electric Co as well as anti-doping watchdogs, sporting federations and an international agency probing the use of chemical weapons.

BAKER HUGHES A GE - The worldwide rig count for September 2018 was 2,258, down 20 from the 2,278 counted in August 2018, and up 177 from the 2,081 counted in September 2017.

REUTERS - Benchmark Brent crude oil was up 10 cents a barrel at $84.68 by 0820 GMT. On Thursday, Brent fell by $1.34 a barrel or 1.6 percent. The contract is on course for a gain of around 2.5 percent for the week. U.S. light crude was up 30 cents at $74.63, a gain of more than 2 percent since last Friday.

GAZPROM - During the meeting, the parties discussed current issues and cooperation prospects, focusing on, among other things, Russian gas exports to Germany.

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.