GAZPROM - Pursuant to the investment program for 2019, the overall amount of investments will stand at RUB 1,325.724 billion, with RUB 963.019 billion intended for capital investments, RUB 151.505 billion for the acquisition of non-current assets, and RUB 211.2 billion for long-term financial investments.

PLATTS - The downward trend in output from Mexico's state oil company Pemex continued in November as oil and gas production fell 2.7% and 2.3% respectively, from the previous month, company data showed Wednesday.

REUTERS - U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1, were up 29 cents, or 0.68 percent, at $42.82 per barrel, at 0355 GMT, having at one point risen as high as 2 percent from the last close. They had slumped 6.7 percent in the previous session to $42.53 a barrel - the lowest since June 2017. Meanwhile Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 were down 11 cents or 0.22 percent at $50.36 a barrel, having skidded 6.2 percent in the previous session to $50.47 a barrel, the weakest since August 2017.

МИНЭНЕРГО РОССИИ - Принято консолидированное решение о совместных действиях с коллегами из ОПЕК и не ОПЕК по сокращению добычи на 2,5% для стран ОПЕК и 2% для стран не ОПЕК.

REUTERS - “I think that during the first half, due to joint efforts, which were confirmed by the OPEC and non-OPEC countries this December, the situation will be more stable, more balanced,” Novak said in an interview on Rossiya-24 TV.

AN - “Based on available figures, we have around 26 million barrels of surplus ... compared to 340 million barrels in early 2017,” Al-Mazrouei told a press conference in Kuwait City.

OGJ - US crude oil inventories, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, decreased by 500,000 bbl for the week ended Dec. 14, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration.

AN - Rouhani gave the value of the draft budget at about 4,700 trillion rials for the next Iranian year which starts on March 21, 2019 He said US sanctions would affect Iranians’ lives and growth but not bring the government to its knees

REUTERS - International benchmark Brent crude LCOc1 futures rose 60 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $54.42 a barrel at 0408 GMT. Prices climbed to as high as $54.66. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were up 37 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $45.96 a barrel after earlier climbing to as high as $46.24.

U.S. EIA - U.S. primary energy production totaled 8.0 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu), a 10% increase compared with September 2017.

PLATTS - Three aggressive independent Permian Basin upstream operators released capital budgets for 2019 in the last few days that are lower than either prior expectations or actual 2018 spending by at least 12% to 15%, as corporate executives attributed reduced activity to the recent plunge in oil prices.

REUTERS - China's LNG imports totaled 5.99 million tonnes in November, up 48.5 percent from the same month last year, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.

MEOG - Saudi Arabia's Council of Ministers approved its 2019 budget, the largest in the Kingdom's history. It has planned to spend $295bn in the coming year, and estimates revenue at $260bn. Deficit is therefore estimated at $35bn, down 32% from the expected deficit for 2018, $52bn. Actual deficit in 2018 sat at $36.2bn.

IEA - While global coal demand looks set to rise for the second year in a row in 2018, it is forecast to remain stable over the next five years, as declines in Europe and North America are offset by strong growth in India and Southeast Asia,

IMF - The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today approved a 14-month Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) for Ukraine. The arrangement amounts to the equivalent of SDR 2.8 billion (about US$3.9 billion, 139 percent of quota). The Board also took note of Ukraine’s decision to cancel the arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility for Ukraine that was approved on March 11, 2015.