The agreement concerning Nord Stream-2 represents a success for Russia; it accomplishes the strategic goals of Russian gas policy in Europe (main - ceasing gas exports through Ukraine), despite the difficult political relations with the EU, the Western sanctions regime, and Brussels’ declaration that it will diversify the EU’s sources of supply and reduce its dependence on Russian gas.

Top-flight Western firms such as Shell, E.On, BASF, and Engie (formerly GDF Suez) have banded together with Russia’s Gazprom to double the capacity of Nord Stream, with hopes it will be operational by late 2019.

LNG imports by 10 nations in the region that receive the tanker-delivered fuel dropped 3.4% from a year earlier in August, after reaching a two-year high in March, according to data from Genscape. Russian pipeline supplies soared about 20% from a year earlier in August, remaining at the highest level this year, tracking declining crude prices, according to data from Gazprom, the world’s biggest gas producer.

Together, these deals mean that Europe’s big energy companies want to return to business as usual with Russia, despite the continuing conflict in Ukraine and the EU’s continuing sanctions on Russia.

Ukraine's efforts to store natural gas for winter are running 1 billion cubic metres behind their pace last year, Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said on Wednesday.

“Russia sits on 25% of the world’s gas reserves and is very, very close to markets that we are very familiar with,” Van Beurden said July 30, on the sidelines of the company’s earnings presentation. Shell is also pushing “to see how we can work with Gazprom internationally.”

The United States is now the world’s leading producer of natural gas. With LNG exports scheduled to begin within the next six months, America’s oil and gas renaissance will soon provide both substantial domestic and foreign economic benefits. If US LNG can be imported into regions where there is only a single, monopolistic producer, then strategic benefits could accrue as well.

In the medium term, Iran’s gas will not be able to compete with the Russian gas in the European market.

This month the head of the EBRD said the bank could invest hundreds of millions of dollars in Ukraine's energy sector this year, but that any investment would depend on Kiev implementing long-promised energy sector reforms.

Rotterdam, Europe's largest port, said on Thursday that plans to build a Russian-backed 3 million cubic meter oil storage terminal had been canceled after its Russian partner raised concerns over the project's feasibility.