IMF - We project real GDP growth at 4.2 percent in 2018 and 3.5 percent in 2019. Full implementation of the structural reform agenda will further boost growth potential. Headline inflation has increased to 2.6 percent in August and is expected to remain close to the center of the inflation target range of 3 percent over 2018 and 2019.

GAZPROM - During the meeting, the parties discussed current issues and cooperation prospects, focusing on, among other things, Russian gas exports to Germany.

GAZPROM - October 4 Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Rainer Seele, Chairman of the Executive Board of OMV, signed at the 8th St. Petersburg International Gas Forum a Memorandum on Strategic Cooperation.

GAZPROM - Attention was also paid to the Nord Stream 2 project. Alexey Miller and Pekka Lundmark discussed the ongoing construction of the gas pipeline, stressing the project’s importance and timeliness in terms of the stability of gas supplies to European consumers in the long term.

GAZPROM - The parties pointed to the high efficiency of the bilateral cooperation in the gas industry, emphasizing, inter alia, the reliability of gas supplies, the amount of which had increased by 41 per cent from 2014 to 2017. In the first nine months of 2018, Gazprom had exported 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas to Serbia, a 2.9 per cent rise against the same period of 2017.

REUTERS - The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is important to secure German energy supplies and Russia is a safe and reliable provider, Thomas Bareiss, Germany’s state secretary for energy, said.

EQUINOR - Equinor has signed an agreement to acquire Chevron’s 40% operated interest in the Rosebank project, one of the largest undeveloped fields on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS).

THE GUARDIAN - Backers of mini nuclear power stations have asked for billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money to build their first UK projects, according to an official document.

MEOG - Chemicals company BASF and investment company LetterOne signed a transaction agreement to merge their respective oil and gas businesses in a joint venture, which will operate under the name Wintershall DEA.

PLATTS - LNG produced from Russia's Yamal LNG project look set to stay in Europe in the short term on the back of high European natural gas hub pricing allied to firmer shipping rates due to tight Atlantic tonnage,

PLATTS - Norway's state-owned power company Statkraft is planning annual investments of around NOK10 billion ($1.2 billion, Eur1 billion) in renewable energy in the period 2019-2025, it said.

U.S. EIA - Crude oil surpassed hydrocarbon gas liquids (HGL) to become the largest U.S. petroleum export, with 1.8 million barrels per day (b/d) of exports in the first half of 2018. U.S. crude oil exports increased by 787,000 b/d, or almost 80%, from the first half of 2017 to the first half of 2018 and set a new monthly record of 2.2 million b/d in June.

OGJ - Total SA made a natural gas discovery on the Glendronach prospect offshore UK West of Shetland that it believes can be commercialized quickly and at low cost by leveraging the existing Laggan-Tormore infrastructure.

OPEC - Total oil demand for 2018 is now estimated at 98.82 mb/d. In 2019, world oil demand growth is forecast to rise by 1.41 mb/d. Total world oil demand in 2019 is now projected to surpass 100 mb/d for the first time and reach 100.23 mb/d.

REUTERS - Germany will chose where to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal by the end of 2018 as a gesture to the United States which wants to ship more gas to Europe, the economy minister said.