REUTERS - Two thirds said they supported the construction of the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline because it would help provide Germany with a more reliable supply of natural gas.

REUTERS - Turkey has told American officials it opposes U.S. sanctions on Iran and is not obliged to implement them, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday.

API - API released its monthly statistical report for June of 2018 highlighting that U.S. production of crude oil and natural gas liquids hit is highest level ever. In June, production of crude oil hit 10.7 million barrels per day (mb/d) and production of natural gas liquids hit 4.2 mb/d.

REUTERS - China, which purchased 14 percent of all U.S. LNG shipped between February 2016-April 2018, has taken delivery from just one vessel that left the United States in May and none in June compared with 14 during the first four months of the year.

IEA - For the third consecutive year, global energy investment declined, to USD 1.8 trillion (United States dollars) in 2017 – a fall of 2% in real terms. The power generation sector accounted for most of this decline, due to fewer additions of coal, hydro and nuclear power capacity, which more than offset increased investment in solar photovoltaics.

EIA - Crude oil production from the major US onshore regions is forecast to increase 143,000 b/d month-over-month in July from 7,327 to 7,470 thousand barrels/day , gas production to increase 1,066 million cubic feet/day from 69,466 to 70,532 million cubic feet/day .

U.S. FRB - Industrial production rose 0.6 percent in June after declining 0.5 percent in May. For the second quarter as a whole, industrial production advanced at an annual rate of 6.0 percent, its third consecutive quarterly increase. Manufacturing output moved up 0.8 percent in June.

U.S. DT - The sum total in May of all net foreign acquisitions of long-term securities, short-term U.S. securities, and banking flows was a net TIC inflow of $69.9 billion. Of this, net foreign private inflows were $58.8 billion, and net foreign official inflows were $11.1 billion.

U.S. DC - U.S. uranium production had been 49 percent of U.S. requirements in 1987. Today, U.S. uranium production has dropped to only five percent of U.S. requirements.

BAKER HUGHES A GE - U.S. Rig Count is down 8 rigs from last week to 1,046, with oil down 5 to 858, gas rigs down 2 to 187, and miscellaneous rigs down 1 to 1. Canada Rig Count is up 14 rigs from last week to 211, with oil rigs up 3 to 142 and gas rigs up 11 to 69.

BAKER HUGHES A GE - U.S. Rig Count is up 2 rigs from last week to 1,054, with oil rigs unchanged at 863, gas rigs up 2 to 189, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 2. Canada Rig Count is up 15 rigs from last week to 197, with oil rigs up 13 to 139 and gas rigs up 2 to 58.

REUTERS - Brent crude LCOc1 rose $1.23, or 1.7 percent, to $74.63 a barrel by 0544 GMT after slumping 6.9 percent on Wednesday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) CLc1 added 46 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $70.84 a barrel, after falling 5 percent the previous session.

REUTERS - The Republican president, in Brussels for the NATO summit, took a swipe at Germany for supporting a new pipeline for Russian gas, saying at a pre-summit meeting: “We’re supposed to be guarding against Russia and Germany goes out and pays billions and billions of dollars a year to Russia.”

U.S. BEA - Expenditures by foreign direct investors to acquire, establish, or expand U.S. businesses totaled $259.6 billion (preliminary) in 2017. Expenditures were down 32 percent from $379.7 billion (revised) in 2016 and were below the annual average of $359.9 billion for 2014-2016. As in previous years, acquisitions of existing businesses accounted for a large majority of total expenditures.

BLOOMBERG - Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told a Texas judge that Exxon Mobil Corp. doesn’t have a right to see privileged documents related to a $2 million fine assessed against the energy company for violating sanctions related to Russia’s 2014 invasion of Ukraine.