"In 2016, geopolitical challenges will not go away. We have to keep pushing for diversification of energy sources," Sefcovic said, reiterating that the Commission would scrutinize whether the Nord Stream plan complied with EU rules.

Gazprom would need to bring spot gas prices below $4 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), versus around $5.65 per mmBtu now, to shut Europe off to U.S. imports - a level Goldman Sachs expects could be reached by 2018/2019.

“Russia plays a central role in the question of how we Europeans can secure our energy supply,” Schroeder, whose friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin has been controversial in Germany, said at the Nov. 9 event. “Norway and Russia are the most secure and reliable energy partners for Europe.”

“Russia plays a central role in the question of how we Europeans can secure our energy supply. Norway and Russia are the most secure and reliable energy partners for Europe”, said the former German Chancellor.

The Commission would assess it "rigorously against the European regulatory framework," it said, and the project would have to comply with environment, competition and public procurement rules.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Total SA and BP Plc will retain $8 billion a year in cash by giving investors the option of receiving payouts in shares instead, according to Jean-Pierre Dmirdjian, an analyst at Liberum Capital Ltd. That’s equivalent to about 8.5 percent of total cash and equivalents currently on their books, making the so-called scrip dividend a vital tool as companies curb spending to ride out the slump in oil prices.

It plans to sell $20 billion of asset in the two years to the end of 2015 and reiterated a plan to dispose off $30 billion from 2016 to 2018, following the acquisition of BG Group.

The outlook of gas supply prices to Europe was adjusted upward by more than 14% to $199 per 1,000 cubic meters for 2015, Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development said on Friday.

Sending gas to Europe doesn’t make commercial sense for Iran, says Matthew Bryza, former US assistant secretary for South Caucasus and former US ambassador to Azerbaijan.

"...in Europe investment signals are unclear. As a result of EU policy and lack of an expressed role of gas in these policies, there is an additional political risk concerning future European gas demand," Norway's Oil and Energy Ministry said in its reply to the European Commission, as a part of wider consultations on the EU's strategy on LNG and gas storage.