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.

PLATTS - The Russian government is extending a production sharing agreement with France's Total for development of the Kharyaga oil field by 13 years to the end of 2031, in the latest sign that many Western majors' operations in Russia are continuing despite sanctions on the oil sector.

REUTERS - “The project will definitely be financed. It is important for Gazprom and Russia currently has a high liquidity in euros,” Paul Corcoran, the Nord Stream 2 CFO, told Welt am Sonntag in an interview.

REUTERS - Germany has been assured by the United States that any sanctions imposed on Russia will not affect the building of a gas pipeline to bring Russian gas to Europe, a spokeswoman for the German economy ministry said on Friday.

REUTERS - “We met. We discussed energy issues, among other things. We touched upon questions related to sanctions,” Novak said in a press briefing in Washington. “We can’t sidestep these difficult questions, so of course we touched upon them during our contact.”

OGJ - Sandra Oudkirk, deputy assistant secretary for energy diplomacy at the US Department of State, confirmed that the Trump administration has received several requests to sanction the proposed Gazprom-sponsored pipeline that would extend from Russia beneath the Baltic Sea to Germany.

OPEC Ministers React to Trump's Tweet at OPEC in Vienna

U.S.DT - the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated five Russian entities and three Russian individuals under Executive Order (E.O.) 13694, “Blocking the Property of Certain Persons Engaging in Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities,” as amended, and Section 224 of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).

FT - “In my opinion, the stability of Russian production was underestimated by the market,” said Igor Sechin, chief executive of Rosneft, the country’s top oil producer. “In general, the Russian oil sector investments in rouble equivalent under the crisis conditions were increasing, and so did the production.” 

МИНФИН РОССИИ - Сейчас мы, к сожалению, видим обратные процессы – когда процесс введения ограничений, санкций сначала для одной, для другой страны, потом захватывает все больший и больший периметр, захватывает мировые экономики. Теперь мы видим, что санкции могут распространяться и на союзников.

REUTERS - The head of Ukraine’s Naftogaz said on Thursday EU-mediated talks over future Russian gas transit via the country to Europe must include Gazprom and must be based on firm commitments.

Российская Федерация, несмотря на все ограничения, которые сейчас вводятся, принимает меры по реагированию. Эти санкции способствовали даже более активному проведению реформ в России. Здесь и свободное курсообразование, и более жесткая бюджетная политика, целый ряд структурных реформ как метод реагирования на санкции.

REUTERS - Retail sales, the key gauge for consumer demand, the primary driver of economic growth, were up 2.4 percent year-on-year in April after a 2.0 percent rise in the year to March. Capital investment, the next most important driver, was up 3.6 percent year-on-year in the first quarter after increasing 1.4 percent in the same period a year earlier.

REUTERS - Washington was focused on using diplomatic means to halt Nord Stream 2, one of several Russian projects to export gas to western Europe via routes avoiding Ukraine, with which Moscow is involved in a series of disputes.

OGJ - “I frankly don’t see it as a strategy,” Mitrova admitted. “When we look at Russia’s economy, energy is an important part. Hydrocarbons still represent the biggest share of its federal budget, but their share has dropped from 50% to 40%. There is no consistent long-term plan, and many decisions are driven by short-term adaptations. There is no clear consensus.”