PLATTS - Federal crude oil exports from Iraq's southern Persian Gulf terminals edged up in December to reach a new record high, averaging 3.535 million b/d, up 33,000 b/d from in November, the latest data from the oil ministry showed.

BLOOMBERG - Kuwait Petroleum Corp. signed a 15-year liquefied natural gas import deal with Royal Dutch Shell Plc to help the oil exporting nation meet growing domestic energy demand.

PLATTS - The amount of gas held within the UK's medium-range natural gas storage facilities has fallen by more than 50% since the end of November on the back of high demand allied to weaker UK gas production.

GAZPROM - Last year, Gazprom exported a record 179.3 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe. The upward trend continued this year: as early as December 8, 2017, last year’s record was beaten, with total exports reaching 179.8 billion cubic meters of gas.

GAZPROM - “Today, we laid the basis for another pipeline route of Russian gas supplies to China. The project will expand the range of options for satisfying the growing demand for gas in the Chinese market,” said Alexey Miller.

GAZPROM - With LNG demand on the rise, Gazprom is making further efforts in this line of business.

BLOOMBERG - Al-Falih wouldn’t rule out buying LNG from Russia, which this month opened a new plant in the Arctic, although he cautioned it wasn’t the most economical option at the moment.

REUTERS - Japan’s liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) imports from the United States are expected to double in 2017 to a record and account for around for around half of its total purchases, government and shipping data showed.

API - Total petroleum deliveries in November rose to 19.9 million barrels per day. This was the strongest November monthly demand since 2007. Cumulatively through the first 11 months of the 2017, total domestic petroleum deliveries rose by 0.9 percent, which exceeded demand growth in 2016 despite higher prices.

Petrobras and ExxonMobil signed a memorandum of understanding regarding a strategic alliance to jointly identify and evaluate potential business opportunities.

ExxonMobil Development Africa B.V. has acquired a 25 percent indirect interest in Mozambique’s gas-rich Area 4 block from Eni and assume responsibility for midstream operations.

GAZPROM - Alexey Miller and Ali Kardor, Iran’s Deputy Minister of Petroleum, CEO of National Iranian Oil Company, inked a Roadmap. Pursuant to the document, Gazprom will conduct a proof-of-concept study with regard to implementing integrated projects for hydrocarbon production, transmission and processing, including petrochemistry, in Iranian territory.

ROSATOM - On December 10, 2017, the construction start ceremony took place at the Akkuyu NPP site under a limited construction licence issued by the Turkish Atomic Energy Agency (TAEK). Director General of the ROSATOM Alexey Likhachev, and First Deputy Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources of the Turkish Republic, Fatih Donmez, took part in the ceremony.

Russia has three oil export terminals on its Arctic coast. Shipments began from Lukoil PJSC's 240,000 barrel a day Varandey terminal in 2008. It now handles about 150,000 daily barrels from nearby fields. Gazprom Neft's Prirazlomnoye field produces approximately 80,000 barrels a day, with a target capacity of 130,000. The same company's 170,000 barrel a day Arctic Gate terminal started operations this year and exports about 150,000 barrels a day from the Novoportovskoye field. Crude from all three terminals is shipped in shuttle tankers to Murmansk, from where cargoes are sent on larger vessels to Europe.

US commercial crude oil inventories, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, decreased by 5.6 million bbl for the week ended Dec. 1 compared with the previous week. The latest estimate is 448.1 million bbl, which puts oil supplies in the upper range for this time of year, the US Energy Information Administration said.