REUTERS - Global ratings agency Moody’s Investor Service raised Russia’s rating to investment grade on Friday, saying the policies enacted in recent years will strengthen the country’s already robust public finances.

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.

ROSNEFT - Financial results for 12M 2018 and 4Q 2018 EBITDA growth by 1.5 times YoY up to RUB 2 trln with margins improvement up to 25% Net Income jumped by 2.5 times YoY up to RUB 549 bln in 12M 2018 Fee cash flow in 12M 2018 up to USD 17.9 bln Drop over USD 14 bln of total trading prepayments and net debt

ROSNEFT - Hydrocarbon production amounted to 285.5 mln toe (5.80 mmboed) in 2018, exceeded 2017 levels by 1.3%. Q4 2018 hydrocarbon production amounted to 73.7 mln toe (5.94 mmboed), which exceeded the Q3 2018 result by 1.8%.

ROSNEFT - As of 31.12.2018, Rosneft SEC proven hydrocarbon reserves were 41,431 mmboe (5,597 mmtoe)*. The hydrocarbon reserves increased by 1,524 mmboe (202 mln toe) versus reserves as of 2017 end or by 4%.

LUKOIL - In 2018 LUKOIL Group's average hydrocarbon production excluding West Qurna-2 project was 2,319 thousand boe per day, which is 3.8% higher year-on-year. In the fourth quarter of 2018 production increased by 1.9% quarter-on-quarter and averaged 2,371 thousand boe per day. The increase was mainly driven by the development of gas projects in Uzbekistan.

IAEA - The plant, being built in Rooppur, about 160 kilometers northwest of the Bangladesh's capital, will have the capacity to generate 2400 megawatts of electricity. The construction project is being implemented by a subsidiary of Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM. It is high on the Bangladeshi government’s agenda, all the way up to the Prime Minister’s office.

REUTERS - Steel pipe maker Tenaris will team up with Severstal, one of Russia’s largest steel producers, to make steel pipes in the heart of Russia’s oil and gas sector in Siberia, they said on Tuesday.

NOVATEK - PAO NOVATEK (“NOVATEK” and/or the “Company”) announced that Arctic LNG 2 (the “Project”) and Siemens signed a contract on compressor equipment for three liquefaction trains of the Project.

PLATTS- Russian energy minister Alexander Novak said Wednesday that he does not currently see a need to take any extra measures or call for an extra meeting by the OPEC/non-OPEC group over the crisis in Venezuela. "We haven't discussed the situation with [Saudi energy] minister Falih, or other ministers," Novak told reporters. "The markets are currently calm ... and the volatility is insignificant. So there is no need for the extra meeting of OPEC+, at least the Russian side thinks so."

GAZPROM - Particular attention at the meeting was paid to the growing demand for gas supplied by Gazprom to Austria. In the period from January 1 through January 27, 2019, gas exports totaled an estimated 1.2 billion cubic meters, an increase of 35 per cent from the same period of last year.

PLATTS - Russia's Gazprom Export believes that the record high gas sales of 200 Bcm in Europe and Turkey last year represented a "new reality" for Russian gas exports. Speaking Tuesday at the European Gas Conference in Vienna, CEO Elena Burmistrova also said she expected gas sales to remain at current levels over the next few years.

ROSATOM - First Russian-made experimental nuclear fuel assemblies based on accident-tolerant fuel (ATF) have been loaded for testing into the water loops of MIR research reactor at the State Research Institute of Atomic Reactors in Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk Region.

PLATTS - Natural gas flows via the Nord Stream pipeline from Russia to Germany totaled 58.8 Bcm in 2018 -- 3.8 Bcm higher than its nameplate capacity of 55 Bcm/year -- according to the operator of the pipeline.