IAEA - "The vision of Saudi Arabia 2030 considers nuclear energy as an important source to support stability and sustainable growth,” he said. “Deployment of nuclear energy aims for peaceful purposes, in a safe, secure and sustainable manner consistent with highest standards and best practices. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has requested the INIR mission to support this goal. It was a valuable tool to pinpoint areas of improvement and ensure that the required infrastructures are in place before signing the contract for building the first nuclear power plant in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

WNN - Indonesia's National Atomic Energy Agency (Batan) has signed an agreement with China's Tsinghua University to cooperate on human resources capacity building.

REUTERS -India’s annual economic growth surged to a more than two-year high of 8.2 percent in the three months through June, giving Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government a political boost in the final year of his term before elections.

BAKER HUGHES A GE - U.S. Rig Count is up 4 rigs from last week to 1,048, with oil rigs up 2 to 862, gas rigs up 2 to 184, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 2. Canada Rig Count is down 1 rig from last week to 228, with oil rigs down 2 to 151 and gas rigs up 1 to 77.

REUTERS -International Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 were at $77.64 per barrel at 0654 GMT, down 13 cents from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were unchanged at $70.25 a barrel.

GAZPROM - Profit attributable to the owners of PJSC Gazprom for the six months ended June 30, 2018 totalled RUB 630,804 million which is by RUB 249,458 million, or 65 %, more than for the same period of the prior year.

PLATTS - Russian gas supplies to Europe and Turkey rebounded in August, according to data released by gas giant Gazprom, after a dip the previous month during the planned outage of the main Nord Stream gas pipeline to Germany.

PLATTS - China's consumption of oil products rose 7.2% year on year to 27.54 million mt in July, data released Tuesday by the National Development and Reform Commission showed.

SHANA - Sitting atop 18% of the world's proven gas reserves, Iran ranks the first in terms of holding natural gas in the world. Owing to development of gas fields in recent years, Iran’s average gas production has reached 800 mcm/d, 600 mcm/d of which is consumed domestically.

U.S. BEA - Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 4.2 percent in the second quarter of 2018, according to the "second" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the first quarter, real GDP increased 2.2 percent.

PETROCHINA - Profit from operations was RMB65.891 billion, representing an increase of 80.6% compared to the same period in 2017. Net profit attributable to owners of the Company was RMB27.088 billion, representing an increase of 113.7% compared to the same period in 2017. Basic earnings per share was RMB0.148, representing an increase of RMB0.079 compared to the same period in 2017.

PLATTS - Oil production at Kazakhstan's giant Kashagan field could be as high as 470,000 b/d under its first development phase, the head of the consortium overseeing the field, Brune Jardin, has said, while also noting plans for a big maintenance shutdown, and for development of nearby fields with China's CMOC.

REUTERS - International Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 were at $75.69 per barrel at 0654 GMT, down 26 cents, or 0.3 percent, from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were down 12 cents, or 0.2 percent, at $68.41 a barrel.

U.S. EIA - The South China Sea is a major trade route for crude oil, and in 2016, more than 30% of global maritime crude oil trade, or about 15 million barrels per day (b/d), passed through the South China Sea.

REUTERS - Iran’s crude oil and condensate exports in August are set to drop below 70 million barrels for the first time since April 2017, well ahead of the Nov. 4 start date for a second round of U.S. economic sanctions.