For the six months of 2019 LUKOIL Group's average hydrocarbon production excluding the West Qurna-2 project was 2,352 thousand boe per day, which is 2.8% higher year-on-year. The increase was mainly driven by the development of gas projects in Uzbekistan, as well as oil production growth in Russia due to change in terms of the external limitations of Russian companies' production volumes.

Now, the situation of the oil demand growth is becoming even more uncertain: the US-China trade dispute remains unresolved and in September new tariffs are due to be imposed.

U.S. natural gas demand is rising as power generators shut coal plants and burn more gas for electricity and as rapidly expanding liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals turn more of the fuel into super-cooled liquid for export.

European LNG imports in July fell 27.6% month on month to 6.8 Bcm due to weaker European pricing and a turndown in Qatari production, but a rebound in flows is expected in September

U.S. Rig Count is down 8 rigs from last week to 934, with oil rigs down 6 to 764, gas rigs down 2 to 169, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 1. Canada Rig Count is up 3 rigs from last week to 140, with oil rigs up 3 to 94 and gas rigs unchanged at 46.

Saudi Aramco will cut customer allocations across all regions by a total of 700,000 barrels a day next month,

Russia expressed its readiness to cooperate with Turkey in its oil and gas explorations in the eastern Mediterranean.

Turkey has made continuous efforts to protect its sovereign rights and the rights of Turkish Cypriots in the Eastern Mediterranean region, where it has been drilling in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which was registered with the United Nations in 2004.

The worldwide rig count for July 2019 was 2,238, up 17 from the 2,221 counted in June 2019, and down 13 from the 2,251 counted in July 2018.

Brent crude oil spot prices averaged $64 per barrel (b) in July, almost unchanged from the average in June 2019 but $10/b lower than the price in July of last year. EIA forecasts Brent spot prices will average $64/b in the second half of 2019 and $65/b in 2020. The forecast of stable crude oil prices is the result of EIA’s expectations of a relatively balanced global oil market. EIA forecasts global oil inventories will increase by 0.1 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2019 and 0.3 million b/d in 2020.

OPEC saw output slide to 29.88 million b/d last month, a fall of 210,000 b/d from June, despite output gains by six of its members

Iraq's crude oil production in July rose to 4.62 million b/d, the country's State Oil Marketing Organization said late Sunday, its highest monthly output figure since January 2017, according to official data.

Indonesia's natural gas exports, including both pipeline and LNG, are expected to fall to a two-decade low in 2019, marking the furthest it has dropped since peaking in the late 1990s, on the back of depleting gas fields and the lack of new upstream projects.

"The best way to put downward pressure on gas prices remains more gas supply. Eastern Australian gas users have paid a high price for unnecessary, unscientific restrictions on gas development in Victoria, New South Wales and, until recently, the Northern Territory,"

China's CNOOC will get a 55.6% stake in the Sinapa and Esperanca licenses from Sweden’s Svenska Petroleum Exploration AB, whose interest will be reduced to 23.03%, FAR said in a statement on Tuesday. It did not disclose financial details.