"If oil is sold at a discount, then [consumers] will be happy to buy it. We will earn less, but we will be able to place oil," Novak said.

Germany and Hungary are putting the brakes on a potential EU embargo on Russian oil,

Russia accounts for about 40% of the European Union’s gas demand, and about a third of those shipments transit Ukraine.

Gazprom Marketing & Trading Retail, which trades as Gazprom Energy and supplies gas to about a fifth of UK companies, is coming under pressure as companies withdraw from contracts following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Russian inflows to China hit a nine-month low of 1.42 million b/d in February, down 26.1% year on year and more than 25% month on month.

Oil imports by Asia's third-largest economy rose 5% from January and were up 24% from a low base in February 2021, when a refinery at Bathinda in northern India was fully shut for maintenance, data showed.

The world's fourth-biggest crude importer received 10.565 million mt, or 77.44 million barrels, of crude oil in February, compared with 74.97 million barrels imported a year earlier, marking a fifth consecutive month of year-on-year increase,

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories increased by 4.3 million barrels from the previous week to 415.9 million barrels.

Compared to last year, the period from March 1 through March 15 saw increases in supplies to nine European countries, for instance, Italy (+51.7 per cent), Poland (+71.8 per cent), Croatia (+110.9 per cent), Greece (+34.6 per cent), Bulgaria (+24.4 per cent), as well as Turkey (+21.1 per cent).

Finance minister Shaukat Tarin told the Financial Times that a deal with Russia to build the multibillion-dollar Pakistan Stream pipeline “is almost done”.

Azerbaijan is willing to increase its gas supply to Europe via Turkey amid persisting concerns over natural gas supplies after Russia's invasion of Ukraine,

Japan also intends to work on renewables and nuclear power in a bid to further diversify its energy sources, as part of its response to the G7 joint statement, which calls for reducing Russian energy dependency in phases, Hagiuda said.

"Russia remains a reliable supplier, a world-class guarantor of energy security. We value this reputation, but are ready for a harsh confrontation in the energy sector, if the need arises,"

As it stands, Russia supplies some on average 1,600TWh of gas per year to Europe which represents 40% of Europe’s needs.

В России появятся собственные технологии и системы накопления электроэнергии.