Qatar and Russia have long been rivals in global gas markets. Qatar's supplies came under the spotlight in the past month after Saudi Arabia cut economic and diplomatic ties, in a move ratcheting up a wider violent and diplomatic conflict in the Middle East.

Creditor banks to India's Essar Oil approved the acquisition of the company by a group including Russia's Rosneft, two sources familiar with the matter said, removing a key hurdle to the $12.9 billion deal that has been in the works for two years.

IMF - advancing decisively on the structural reform agenda to improve growth potential and rebalance growth towards non-commodity sectors.

Exxon Mobil is seeking permission from the U.S. government for approval to resume drilling around the Black Sea with a Russian partner, state-owned Rosneft, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The world’s largest listed oil company by output has spent the past four months trumpeting agreements to buy oil from Egypt, Libya and Iraqi Kurdistan, drilling exploration wells in southern Iraq and considering opportunities in Lebanon, as it chases deals to fuel its fledgling international expansion.

Rising oil production in the US, which Russia's energy ministry forecasts to grow by 400,000 b/d year on year in 2017, is being monitored, but it should not be considered separate from the global supply and demand balance, he said.

Now the human drama watch begins; will Putin cave in to the demands of the West to renounce his allies in exchange for the improved relation and the dropping of sanctions?

The European Union, although reliant on Russian oil and gas, says it will never recognize Moscow's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula and expects the Kremlin to abide by the Minsk peace deal brokered for eastern Ukraine.

For every one dollar reduction in the price of oil, Russia suffers a staggering two billion dollar loss in its revenue. On top of the economic sanctions slapped on Russia following the annexation of Crimea, one may consider the record Russian oil production of 11.247 mbpd nothing short of a miracle.

Senior U.S. Republican and Democratic senators will introduce legislation on Tuesday seeking to impose a wide range of sanctions on Russia over its cyber activities and actions in Syria and Ukraine.

U.S. and European Union sanctions and a collapse in global oil prices have hurt the Russian economy and starved it of much-needed foreign investment.

The U.S. government is to check if sanctions where violated when Russia this week struck a deal to sell a stake in oil producer Rosneft to a consortium of Qatar's sovereign fund and commodities trader Glencore, the White House said.

The expected fiscal consolidation and the subdued nature of the recovery are putting in place the conditions for the central bank to resume, in due course, monetary policy easing in a manner consistent with the 4 percent inflation target. However, the pace of easing should take into account the presence of external risks and the need to build credibility under the newly introduced inflation targeting regime.

Russia's oil and gas companies will continue to benefit from the weak rouble while avoiding a major tax hike in 2017, according to a new special report by Fitch Ratings.

Russia is the world's largest producer of crude oil (including lease condensate) and the second-largest producer of dry natural gas. Russia also produces significant amounts of coal. Russia's economy is highly dependent on its hydrocarbons, and oil and natural gas revenues account for more than 40% of the federal budget revenues.