January 2015

Russia’s plan to shift the transit of EU bound natural gas to a new gas hub at the Greek-Turkish border will allow Greece will become an important factor in supplying Europe with Russian gas, according to a representative of the SYRIZA (the Coalition of the Radical Left) Party.

Bulgaria’s central role in Europe’s emerging energy picture stems from both its geography and its history. Located on the shores of the Black Sea, it was the nominal entry point for alternative natural gas pipeline projects between Russia and Europe meant to bypass Ukraine.

Russia plans to shift all its natural gas flows crossing Ukraine to a route via Turkey

Kuwait’s government on Sunday announced plans to spend $155bn on projects over the next five years despite the current slump of oil prices

Eni SPA will resume exploration offshore Egypt under concession agreements based on production sharing it has signed covering two deepwater blocks offered in Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co.’s 2013 bid round

Current market conditions might turn out to be positive for the industry in the long run also for another reason. Low prices are expected to bring along helpful rationalisation measures, which will have a positive impact on the bottom line.

Gazpromneft Sakhalin, a subsidiary of JSC Gazprom Neft, has been awarded subsoil-use rights to the Severo-Zapadniy block on the Pechora Sea shelf and the Heysovskiy block on the Barents Sea shelf.

Venezuela and Russia have reached an agreement to step up investment and participation of Russian companies in development of Orinoco Belt oil reserves and other projects

The growing uncertainty surrounding oil prices presents a major challenge to all price forecasts. EIA's January Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), released yesterday, forecasts Brent crude oil prices averaging $58/bbl in 2015 and $75/bbl in 2016, with annual average WTI prices expected to be $3/bbl to $4/bbl below Brent.

China's economic growth may be as high as 7.3 percent this year, partly due to falling commodity prices, the official Xinhua news agency quoted an academic advisor to the central bank's monetary policy committee as saying on Saturday.