For oil and gas producers, 2016 will be a year of cost-cutting, restructuring, refinancing when it is possible, and in some cases bankruptcy when it is not. Merger and acquisition activity, which was sluggish this year because of disagreements over valuations, may pick up speed.

CNPC said the entire pipeline project is expected to be completed and operational by the end of 2018. Construction of the Chinese section began in June 2015, while construction of the Russian section began in September 2014.

Government ran a record deficit of nearly 367 billion Saudi riyals ($98 billion) this year, or about 15% of gross domestic product, as low oil prices suppressed revenue, pushing it to cut planned spending by 14% in 2016 amid expectations that income from oil sales will remain under pressure.

Egypt is obliged to pay for LNG shipments within 15 days of a shipment's unloading. Now the Egyptian authorities are looking to extend that timeframe. Egypt used to get financial support from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and probably will still get it. However, due to lower energy prices, the support now is more limited. Egypt buys six to eight LNG cargoes monthly, each worth $20-$25 million. It is now in arrears of $350 million for that energy, one source estimated.

“TAP is crucial in the diversification of gas sources in Europe through the development of the Southern Corridor from the Republic of Azerbaijan and potentially other countries,” said Carlo Malacarne, Snam’s chief executive officer.

Iran needs $100 billion to rebuild its gas industry and has met with European energy giants, Azizollah Ramezani, International Affairs director at NIGC said in June.

Совет директоров утвердил Инвестиционную программу, бюджет (финансовый план) и программу оптимизации (сокращения) затрат ПАО «Газпром» на 2016 год. В соответствии с Инвестиционной программой на 2016 год, общий объем освоения инвестиций составит 842 млрд руб.

South Pars, divided into 29 development phases, contains 40 trillion cubic metres (tcm) of natural gas. It covers an area of 9,700 square kilometres, of which 3,700 square kilometres are in Iran’s territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. The remaining 6,000 square kilometres are situated in Qatar’s territorial waters. The gas field is estimated to contain about 8% of the world’s reserves, and approximately 18 billion barrels of condensate.

"We’re facing challenges in a number of countries, including Ukraine where we were forced to sell our assets though they were among the best. We’ve sold our assets in Estonia. Today we listed for sale our assets in Lithuania and Latvia where there is rather serious anti-Russia sentiment that’s why the board of directors took the decision to leave those countries," Alekperov said.

Next year Georgia plans to increase the volume of natural gas it imports from Russia by 25.2% against 2015 up to 250.5 mcm. According to the natural gas balance for 2016 approved by the Georgian Energy Ministry, it plans to import 65.9 mcm of commercial gas from Russia. Georgia will receive 184.6 million cub.m. (down from 7.7%) from Russian gas transit to Armenia, for which Georgia gets 10% in volume.