PLATTS - Japan is keen to back oil investments in the Caspian states of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan as it tries to reduce its reliance on Middle Eastern countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, the UAE and to a lesser extent Iran, Japanese officials said

EIA - In April 2018, Bangladesh became the newest country to begin imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG). In the next two years, six more countries—Panama, Gibraltar, Russia, Philippines, Ghana, and Bahrain—are expected to start importing LNG, adding a combined 2.1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of new regasification import capacity.

REUTERS - Malaysia’s state-owned oil and gas company Petroliam Nasional Bhd [PETR.UL] said on Thursday it is buying a 25 percent stake in a Canadian liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project, nearly a year after cancelling its own planned terminal.

BLOOMBERG - India, a long-time buyer of oil from both Iran and Venezuela, only complies with United Nations-mandated sanctions and not those imposed by one country on another, said foreign minister Sushma Swaraj at a press conference in New Delhi on Monday.

IMF - China’s economic growth accelerated in 2017 and is expected to weaken only slightly in 2018 to 6.6 percent and moderate gradually to about 5½ percent by 2023.

PLATTS - China's state-run oil trader Unipec has purchased around 16 million barrels of US crude oil for loading in June, marking the biggest volume ever to be lifted in a month by the company, informed sources said

PLATTS - China became the largest contributor to global LNG consumption growth in 2017. It surpassed South Korea as the world's second largest LNG importer and its share of global LNG demand is expected to converge with that of Japan by 2030.

AOG - The agreement between ADNOC and ISPRL, which was initiated in January 2017 during a visit to India by a high-ranking UAE delegation, led by His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, covers the storage of 5.86 million barrels of ADNOC crude oil in underground facilities, at the Karnataka facility. The first shipment, of approximately two million barrels of crude oil, will be followed by further shipments after India’s annual monsoon season.

REUTERS - India’s oil imports from Iran surged to 640,000 barrels per day (bpd) in April, its highest level since October 2016, according to data from shipping and industry sources, as refiners raised purchases ahead of looming U.S. sanctions against Tehran.

REUTERS - “We urge relevant parties to earnestly respect China’s sovereign and jurisdictional rights and not do anything that could impact bilateral relations or this region’s peace and stability,” the spokesman, Lu Kang, told a regular news briefing on Thursday.

BLOOMBERG - India’s oil consumption surged 4.5 percent in April as industrial activity gathered pace in Asia’s third-largest economy and sales of trucks and buses soared.

BLOOMBERG - Europe and China will be comparable in significance as importing regions in the coming years, Cheniere Energy Inc. said, citing data from Wood Mackenzie Ltd. That follows “absolutely phenomenal” growth in China last year, Andrew Walker, vice president for strategy at the company that pioneered the transformation of the U.S. shale boom into global exports, said in Amsterdam.

WNN - During last year's visit, Boonabantu noted that Uganda's Vision 2040 roadmap incorporated the development of nuclear energy as part of the country's future energy mix. "Plans have been made in Uganda to have clean and safe energy generation sources with nuclear being one of them," she said. The country, she added, welcomes partners to help construct, train and develop nuclear energy in line with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) standards.

IMF - the region remains the main engine of global growth, accounting for more than 60 per cent of the global growth. Regional output is projected to grow by 5.6 per cent in 2018 and 2019; 5.6 per cent is about 0.1 percentage point higher than we expected in last October, supported by trade as well as accommodative global financial conditions.

BLOOMBERG - India sees a greater probability of global crude oil prices remaining high for a longer period, a scenario that threatens to dent growth and fan inflation in Asia’s third-largest economy.