The parties addressed the Russian-Slovak cooperation in the gas sector, discussing, inter alia, the collaboration between Gazprom and Slovak companies in gas supply and its transit via the Republic.

Shipping 110bn m³/yr would cost Gazprom a quarter of the amount it would spend if it used Nord Stream, while booking capacity for 70bn m³/yr would still cost it only a third as much.

Russia’s oil industry is “very resilient,” BP Plc CEO Bob Dudley said in St. Petersburg on Thursday. The nation’s resources are competitively priced and floating the currency has been helpful for costs, he said while announcing a new exploration joint-venture with Rosneft.

In 1Q 2016, LUKOIL Group total hydrocarbon production (including our share in equity affiliates) increased by 0.5% y-o-y and reached 214.2 mln boe. Crude oil and NGL production was 183 mln bbl (-0.2% y-o-y). On an organic basis (excluding the impact of divestment of certain producing assets in Kazakhstan in 2015), oil production was up by 0.6% y-o-y with production decline at mature fields in Western Siberia more than offset by an increase in production in Iraq and projects in Timan-Pechora, Ural region and Northern Caspian in Russia.

The parties discussed the implementation of a joint project, the Amatitlán Block which LUKOIL entered on the terms of a service contract with a 50% interest in July 2015, and the company’s participation in forthcoming bidding rounds. This resolution was positively received by the Government of Mexico.

The US officials gave a positive assessment of Ukraine's sourcing of gas from Europe and the ongoing reform at Naftogaz and Ukraine’s gas market. They also commended the implementation of the corporate governance reform, which was based on OECD principles for state-owned enterprises.

The head of Russian oil major Lukoil said on Wednesday that he sees oil prices rising above $50 per barrel by the end of the year, RIA news agency reported, citing his TV interview.

The Kandym Gas Processing Complex will include construction of a gas treatment plant capable of processing 8.1 billion cubic meters of gas per year, as well as a natural gas gathering system, which, at its peak, will comprise 114 producing wells, 11 well pads and 4 gathering stations. 370 km of gas pipelines will be installed and 160 km of motorways will be built. Around 7,000 people will be involved in the construction of the complex and infrastructure facilities.

In 2015, LUKOIL Group total hydrocarbon production increased by 2.8 % y-o-y and reached 2.379 million boe per day. Crude oil production* increased by 3.6 % y-o-y to 100.7 million tons.

Ukraine, once one of Russia’s biggest foreign gas buyers, had a debt of more than $29 billion before Tuesday’s bill, according to Gazprom. Naftogaz has demanded almost $26 billion from Gazprom in Stockholm arbitration, claiming it overpaid for supplies and was paid too little for transit, with a court ruling not expected before the middle of the year.