REUTERS - China’s demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) is expected to grow by 20 percent to 25 percent in 2018 despite heightened trade tensions with the United States, Qatari Energy Minister Mohammed al-Sada said.

REUTERS - Qatargas said on Monday it had agreed on a 22-year deal with PetroChina International Co, a unit of PetroChina Co, to supply China with around 3.4 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) annually, as the nation stepped up efforts to combat air pollution.

PLATTS - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said there is significant potential for energy cooperation with Qatar, after the Middle Eastern LNG giant's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani announced plans to invest Eur10 billion ($11.5 billion) in the German economy over the next five years.

ГАЗПРОМ - Стороны обсудили широкий круг вопросов двустороннего взаимодействия. Была дана высокая оценка проекту «Бьендонг» — совместному освоению месторождений Мок Тинь и Хай Тхать в пределах блоков №05–2 и №05–3. Это один из крупнейших проектов газодобычи во Вьетнаме.

МИНЭНЕРГО РОССИИ - «Во Вьетнаме работают все крупнейшие российские нефтегазовые компании, в России – корпорация «Петровьетнам». Совместные предприятия «Вьетсовпетро», «Русвьетпетро», «Газпромвьет» успешно занимаются добычей углеводородов.

U.S. EIA - The United States exported 7.3 million barrels per day (b/d) of crude oil and petroleum products in the first half of 2018, when exports of crude oil and hydrocarbon gas liquids (HGL) set record monthly highs. Crude oil surpassed HGLs to become the largest U.S. petroleum export, with 1.8 million b/d of exports in the first half of 2018. U.S. exports of crude oil, HGLs, and motor gasoline grew in the first half of 2018 compared with the same period in 2017, while distillate exports decreased 84,000 b/d

BLOOMBERG - Saudi Arabia has markedly increased oil exports to America, a sign OPEC’s leading producer is responding to pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to cool down the energy market.

GAZPROM - The offshore pipelay vessel Solitaire started the pipelay for the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline in the Gulf of Finland.

GAZPROM - the TURKSTREAM project was going according to schedule. Specifically, the deep-water pipelaying for the offshore part of the gas pipeline’s first string had been completed in the Black Sea along with the construction of the second string in Russia’s exclusive economic zone.

PLATTS - China's crude imports from Iran are likely to have peaked in August at 874,000 b/d ahead of the looming re-imposition of US sanctions in November,

PLATTS - Russian natural gas flows to western and central Europe recovered strongly in August -- after a dip in July because of pipeline maintenance -- as demand for Russian gas remained buoyant to meet demand from both the power and storage sectors,

REUTERS - Liquefied natural gas exports from Novatek’s Yamal terminal in the Arctic have come on stream faster than expected over the summer and exceeded volumes from Russia’s only other LNG facility, Sakhalin, for the first time in August.

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.

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.