The US shale boom is connecting markets and changing the way oil and gas is bought and sold, according to BP’s trading unit.

BG Group has been loading the first cargo of LNG from its Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG) facility since Dec. 28, the company said in a statement.

GAZPROM PURCHASES PARTNER INTERESTS IN SOUTH STREAM OFFSHORE ENTITY

MERRY CHRISTMAS ! HAPPY NEW YEAR !

Total SA and its partners will use a record 16 ice-breaking tankers to smash through floes en route to and from the Arctic’s biggest liquefied natural-gas development.

Ali al-Naimi, the oil minister of Saudi Arabia, was in no mood to address reporters at Opec’s November meeting, refusing to offer more than a few words after the cartel decided to hold output at 30m barrels a day.

Russia's decision to redirect the South Stream pipeline toward Turkey came as a shock to many European nations. The European Union's attempts to bargain more concessions from Russians by being intractable on various technical aspects had the opposite effect. Those who pinned their hopes on the project as a source of energy stability were left puzzled and discontented. Although Moscow's move can be interpreted in many ways, it fits into Russia's larger strategy in contemporary international politics.

Turkey is on its way to becoming the main hub for energy in Europe due to the recent introduction of the Turk Stream in place of South Stream. The elevation of the country's role became feasible after a series of major infrastructure projects that will certainly make Turkey the corridor for the supply of gas into the EU for the coming decades.

U.S. oil and gas companies have been an engine of growth through much of an otherwise lackluster economic expansion, providing steady employment, solid wages and fierce competition for workers across wide swaths of the country.

OPEC will need to “step in” amid further declines in oil prices, which are fair at about $70 to $80 a barrel, according to the group’s second-biggest producer.