IEA - Growth in 4Q18 was robust at 1.4 mb/d y-o-y and for 2018 as a whole growth was 1.3 mb/d.

API - Strongest gasoline demand (8.9 million barrels per day, mb/d) for the month January on record since 1945. Record refinery and petrochemical demand for other oils’ in any month (5.7 mb/d) U.S. production of crude oil (11.9 mb/d) and natural gas liquids (NGLs) (4.9 mb/d) Refinery throughput (17.3 mb/d) and capacity utilization (93.1 percent) for the month of January.

GAZPROM - As Alexey Miller said after the negotiations, “Construction of the Power of Siberia gas pipeline is going ahead of schedule, and Gazprom will start delivering gas to China well in advance, as early as December 1, 2019.”

GAZPROM - Particular attention at the meeting was paid to the progress of the Nord Stream 2 project. It was stressed that pipelaying works in the Baltic Sea were going according to schedule.

REUTERS - Russia's planned Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline direct to Germany is set to face EU market rules after negotiators agreed informally to change the EU's gas directive to apply to offshore gas links, the European Commission said late Tuesday.

TRANSCANADA - TransCanada Corporation (TSX, NYSE: TRP) (TransCanada or the Company) announced net income attributable to common shares for fourth quarter 2018 of $1.1 billion or $1.19 per share compared to net income of $0.9 billion or $0.98 per share for the same period in 2017.

PLATTS - Europe is likely to be a prime destination for US LNG cargoes well into the next decade as shipping costs make Europe preferable to Asia as a destination for US exporters, Massimo Mantovani, head of gas and LNG marketing at Italy's Eni, said Monday.

PLATTS - "Imports of Russian crude oil and LNG do not go through any chokepoints such as the Strait of Hormuz. Therefore they are important for the diversification of Japan's energy import sources, and I hope that Russia will play an even larger role. I would like to continue working to expand our cooperation," Seko said.

REUTERS - Nord Stream 2 has divided the EU, with German opposition to the new draft rules stalling discussions since it was proposed by the EU executive in November 2017.

REUTERS - The pipeline project, which is majority owned by Russian energy giant Gazprom, plans to tap lenders this year, a spokesman for Nord Stream 2 told Reuters. He did not comment on the risk of new sanctions.

REUTERS - Germany will not become dependent on Russia for gas due to Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday, stressing that it was crucial to ensure Ukraine remained a transit country for gas.

GAZPROM - The document, which serves as a follow-up to the Memorandum inked by the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Energy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in September 2018, provides for a joint feasibility study regarding gas supplies from the Middle East to South Asian countries.

EIA - Recently announced U.S. sanctions directed at Venezuela’s energy sector and state oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), will essentially eliminate U.S. imports of Venezuelan crude oil as the full effects of the sanctions emerge. However, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) does not anticipate any significant decrease in U.S. refinery runs as a result of these sanctions.

PLATTS - LNG exports from Australia's east coast rose 9% month on month to 1.93 million mt in January, buoyed by strong sales to China and Japan, data from the Gladstone Ports Corporation showed Thursday.

SHANA - Zangeneh said Iran had outdone Qatar in recovery from the giant offshore South Pars gas field and surpassed Iraq in production from jointly owned oil reservoirs.