April 17 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index is seen opening lower on Thursday, with futures FFIc1 down 0.31%.

* BP: BP BP.L will begin loading its first shipment of liquefied natural gas from Venture Global's VG.N Calcasieu Pass plant in Louisiana on Wednesday, according to LSEG data.

* RIO TINTO: Rio Tinto RIO.L, RIO.AX said it inked a memorandum of understanding with India-based AMG Metals & Materials to assess the viability of a low-carbon aluminium project in the South Asian country.

* HARMONY ENERGY: Two funds managed by Foresight Group LLP said they would buy battery storage investment firm Harmony Energy Income Trust HEIT.L in 209.9 million pounds ($277.9 million) deal.

* OIL: Oil prices extended gains on the prospect of tighter supply after Washington imposed further sanctions to curb Iranian oil trade and as some OPEC producers pledged more output cuts to compensate for pumping above agreed quotas.

* METALS: Shanghai copper firmed as a softer dollar and improving economic data from top metals consumer China buoyed market sentiment

* EX-DIVS: Sabre Insurance Group SBRE.L ,Jupiter Fund Management JUP.L, Travis Perkins TPK.L, Dowlais Group DWL.L and Costain Group COSG.L will trade without entitlement to its latest dividend pay-out on Thursday.

* The UK blue-chip index .FTSE closed up 0.3%, recovering from early losses on Wednesday as a softer-than-expected inflation print lifted investor sentiment.

* UK CORPORATE DIARY:

* For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: LIVE/

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(Compiled by Simone Lobo in Bengaluru)

((Simone.Lobo@thomsonreuters.com; +919920570373;))