The US is set to impose sanctions on Rosneft if it continues to trade crude oil and fuel with Venezuela's PDVSA in exchange for debt repayments and stakes in joint venture projects in the South American nation,

The US will impose a 10% tariff on the remaining $300 billion worth of Chinese goods September 1, when trade talks between the two countries resume, President Donald Trump said Thursday.

The German Economy Ministry has taken note of the threat of U.S. sanctions being placed on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday, adding that Berlin rejected sanctions that have extraterritorial effect.

РОСНЕФТЬ - В компании «Роснефть» крайне удивлены заявлениями главы Госдепартамента США Майка Помпео, содержащими беспочвенные обвинения в адрес Компании и отличающимися субъективностью и предвзятостью.

PLATTS- US refiners cannot rely on Mexico to replace Venezuelan heavy oil imports as the country is battling to reverse its declining production and Pemex's oil is sold under contractual basis, analysts and others say.

REUTERS - Germany will try to protect German and European companies from some potentially “massive collateral damage” if Washington levies further sanctions against Russia, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said.

REUTERS - Threatening to impose U.S. sanctions on companies involved in the Russian-backed Nord Stream 2 pipeline is unacceptable, the head of Austria’s OMV, which has a stake in the project, told Germany’s Handelsblatt.

REUTERS - The United States has warned German companies involved in the Russian-led Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline that they could face sanctions if they stick with the project.

WNN - The US Department of Energy (DOE) has established a new policy framework on civil nuclear cooperation with China, following a government policy review led by the US National Security Council. The policy covers exports of technology, equipment and components, and material to China.

REUTERS - The United States is tightening controls on China’s imports of civil nuclear technology to prevent use for military or other unauthorized purposes, the U.S. Department of Energy said on Thursday amid increased trade tensions.

CNBC - "We can see that the pricing situation today depends not just on the supply/demand balance or the general economic situation but also on the uncertainty that we observe today in the global markets: the trade wars, the sanctions that the U.S. pursue," Novak said, speaking to CNBC's Geoff Cutmore at the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok, Russia.

U.S. - CHINA TRADE WAR

U.S. DT - The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today announced the largest North Korea-related sanctions tranche to date, aimed at disrupting North Korean shipping and trading companies and vessels to further isolate the regime and advance the U.S. maximum pressure campaign.

“The principal risk regarding Russian and Chinese activities in Venezuela in the near term is that they will exploit the unfolding crisis, including the effect of US sanctions, to deepen their control over Venezuela’s resources, and their [financial] leverage over the country as an anti-US political and military partner,” observed R. Evan Ellis, a senior associate in the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Americas Program.

Russian oil production rises in August, sanctions yet to bite