ROSNEFT - following the approval of the Rosneft open market share buyback program (the «Program») by the Board of Directors, Rosneft appointed UBS as an independent agent to conduct the open market share buyback on behalf of the Company.

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,

MEOG - Saudi Aramco has put its $15 billion Marjan Crude Increment Programme up for tender, according to multiple posts on ProTenders and BNC Network.

MEOG - Saudi Aramco put $6 billion Berri oilfield up for tender, including the expansion of the Berri offshore oilfield, which produces between 250,000 to 300,000 bpd, as well as the expansion of the Berri gas plant in Jubail.

REUTERS -U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $69.14 per barrel at 0642 GMT, down 73 cents, or 1 percent, from their last settlement. International Brent crude futures LCOc1 fell 60 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $77.57 a barrel.

REUTERS - “The Saudis need oil at about $80 and they don’t want prices to go below $70. They want to manage the market like this,” one of the sources told.

REUTERS - Offshore oil driller Transocean Ltd said on Tuesday it would buy peer Ocean Rig UDW Inc in a $2.7 billion cash-and-stock deal, its second major acquisition this year as the company bets on a recovery in the offshore sector.

PLATTS - Saudi Aramco has awarded Baker Hughes a major services contract to boost crude oil production from Saudi Arabia's offshore Marjan oil field.

REUTERS -Brent crude oil LCOc1 was up 45 cents at $78.09 a barrel by 1045 GMT. U.S. crude CLc1 was 10 cents higher at $69.90.

REUTERS -Russian oil output stood at 11.21 million barrels per day (bpd) in August, virtually unchanged from July and steady near a post-Soviet high as production curbs were eased, Energy Ministry data showed on Sunday.

МИНФИН РОССИИ - Средняя цена нефти марки Urals по итогам января – августа 2018 года составила $ 69,73 за баррель. В 2017 году средняя цена на Urals в январе – августе составила $ 50,09 за баррель. Средняя цена на нефть марки Urals в августе 2018 года сложилась в размере $ 71,72 за баррель, что в 1,4 раза выше, чем в августе 2017 года ($51,02 за баррель).

OPEC - The JMMC noted that countries participating in the “Declaration of Cooperation” have achieved a conformity level of 109% in July 2018, which shows significant progress towards the goal set at the 4th OPEC and Non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting of 23 June 2018, which followed and endorsed decisions taken at the 174th Meeting of the OPEC Conference convened on 22 June 2018.

PLATTS - Saudi Arabia will report August crude oil production of 10.424 million b/d, an OPEC source told S&P Global Platts on Friday. The figure represents a 136,000 b/d increase from July, when Saudi Arabia, OPEC's largest producer and the world's largest crude exporter, self-reported production of 10.288 million b/d.

PLATTS - OPEC's second-largest producer, Iraq, boosted its southern crude oil exports to a new record high of 3.583 million b/d in August, according to the latest oil ministry data.

FT - Higher energy prices and a weakened rouble saw second-quarter profits soar at three of Russia’s largest oil and gas groups, underlining a strong earnings season for the country’s energy industry that has weathered international sanctions to reap strong earnings.