STATOIL - Statoil has awarded drilling contracts to Archer, KCA Deutag and Odfjell Drilling for drilling, completion, intervention services, plugging, maintenance and modifications on 18 of Statoil’s fixed platforms.

BLOOMBERG - The government has paid out 109 billion kroner ($14 billion) since 2005 to explorers such as Lundin Petroleum AB and Repsol SA. It helped attract more companies to Norway, nearly doubling the pace of exploration and leading to key discoveries such as the multi-billion-barrel Johan Sverdrup field.

WNN - France has demonstrated a strong commitment to nuclear security, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The Vienna-based agency carried out a two-week International Physical Protection Advisory Service (IPPAS) follow-up mission at the French government's request.

OGJ - “It’s at a critical point; $150 billion of new infrastructure will be needed domestically. With all the growth in the Permian, there’s not capacity to ship gas to Louisiana,” Hochstein said. “If governments in both the US and Europe aren’t willing to put infrastructure in place, real progress won’t be made.”

NPD - Preliminary production figures for February 2018 show an average daily production of 1 944 000 barrels of oil, NGL and condensate, which is a decrease of 83 000 barrels per day compared to January.

GAZPROM - The Italian Republic is currently the third-largest importer of Russian gas. According to preliminary data, Russia’s gas exports to Italy grew by 99 per cent in March 1–19, 2018, compared to the same period of last year.

PLATTS - UK oil production is expected to rise by 9% this year, to nearly 1.1 million b/d, while gas output will remain flat and the longer term looks less positive, industry group Oil & Gas UK said Tuesday.

BLOOMBERG - “Should the statements become a reality regarding alternative sources for gas instead of Russia, that will damage first and foremost the consumers,” Novak said in a Bloomberg television interview in Moscow. “Should any company or country opt for another supplier, I don’t think that condition will be that preferential and beneficial for them."

FT - “Resilience to the sanctions has been very high. Currently, we see no serious consequences,” said Tatiana Mitrova, director of the Skolkovo Energy Centre in Moscow. “It came as a big surprise to many.” 

PLATTS - The company outlined plans Friday to increase its annual contracted LNG volume to 12 million mt a year by 2021 and to 14 million mt/year by 2025 from the 10 million mt/year envisioned in its previous 2017-20 plan.

PENNENERGY - Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy has secured orders for the supply of 39 onshore wind turbines in France, with aggregate capacity of 104 MW, at five wind farms being developed in the regions of Hauts de France, Grand Est, Burgundy and in Western France.

BLOOMBERG - While Europe as a whole gets more than a third of its gas from Russia, that share is lower in the U.K., which receives the bulk of its fuel from North Sea fields and Norway. Still, Moscow-based Gazprom PJSC was the second-biggest supplier to major industrial consumers in the U.K. last year, according to Britain’s energy regulator Ofgem.

FT - of the six LNG tankers that have made deliveries into the UK so far in 2018 three have carried cargoes originally from Russia, leading to questions about whether Moscow was gaining a foothold in the UK gas market after starting up the Yamal LNG facility in Siberia late last year.

REUTERS - So far this year, two Yamal cargoes unloaded at British terminals for domestic consumption, accounting for about a third of Britain’s 2018 LNG imports after typical supplier Qatar pre-sold the bulk of its winter output to Asia last year.

PLATTS - But the dispute erupted again last week after the court ruled in Naftogaz’s favor on the transit element of the case, awarding Naftogaz $4.6 billion in compensation for Gazprom’s underuse of its transit network. The net award to Naftogaz was $2.6 billion across the entire case after the court previously awarded Gazprom a little over $2 billion in the supply ruling.