U.S. Rig Count is up 10 rigs from last week to 431, with oil rigs up 11 to 341, gas rigs down 1 to 89, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 1. Canadian Rig Count is unchanged from last week at 76, with oil rigs down 1 to 35, gas rigs up 1 to 40, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 1.

Gazprom will send some of the gas from its controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline through Slovakia, the Russian state-controlled company said, in a move that may soften Slovak opposition to the project.

Gazprom's gas sales in Europe in the first half of 2016 rose by 14.2%, or 10.6 Bcm, compared with the same period of last year, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said Thursday, signaling a sharp slowdown in export growth in the second quarter of this year.

Eustream said June 30 that it welcomed assurances from Gazprom at the meetings that the Slovak and the Czech gas transmission systems will be used in long term even if NS2 is built. Eustream said also it “highly appreciates the understanding between both parties that the entry point from Ukraine to Slovakia shall remain fully functional even if NS2 is commissioned.”

China and Saudi Arabia discussed growth prospects and areas of cooperation and found mutual interests in crude oil storage, logistics, infrastructure, industrial development, mining, technology, energy, renewables and sovereign wealth funds, according to the ministry statement.

The company said this week in a presentation on its website that the decision on expanding the Tengiz development in Kazakhstan will be made in mid-2016. Installing 4,500 camp beds for construction crews is done and port dredging 25 percent complete, it said. The project may cost as much as $40 billion and add crude supply equivalent to that of Libya. The investment was put on hold last year after cost estimates ballooned amid plunging oil prices.

The Tangguh Expansion Project will also bring a positive contribution to Indonesia and the Papua Barat Province starting in 2016, supporting economic growth and providing 10,000 valuable jobs spread over the project period.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 were trading at $50.31 per barrel at 0441 GMT, almost unchanged from their last settlement. U.S. crude CLc1 were down 5 cents at $48.94.

"Memorandum of understandings (MoUs) worth over $80 billion to be spent on investments in oil and gas infrastructure, pipelines, refineries, power, facility refurbishments and upstream have been signed with Chinese companies,"

"On the issue of territory and disputes over maritime delineation, China does not accept any dispute resolution from a third party and does not accept any dispute resolution forced on China."

The Chinese, through a statement by the Foreign Ministry last Sunday, said the two countries “have overlapping claims for maritime rights and interest.”

"Turkey needs to diversify its imported energy resources. Turkey's approach to Russia will bear fruit in early October. The feasibility of the Turk Stream natural gas pipeline project, which Putin proposed in late 2014, may begin later this year. If all things go smoothly, we may see the Russian molecules in early 2019 via a new pipeline,"

“We view Saudi as a core growth market with huge potential for global investment banks,” said Tamim Jabr, Deutsche Bank’s head of corporate and investment-banking coverage in Saudi Arabia.

72.4% of the overall scope of the work is done, which is ahead of schedule by about 2.5%. $12bn have been spent to date from total SD2 cost estimate of $24bn including an inflation rate for the period 2014-2020

“Indeed, youth seeds yield high crops. Our program activities were developed as pilots, but they are also a source of good practices and lessons to be used as a rich ground for the development of new joint World Bank and donor partners projects,”