The standoff between Russia and the West over Ukraine has increased Europe's quest for alternative suppliers of oil and gas and Canada's exports to Europe have already started to pick up in the last few months.

A Bad Gas Deal For Ukraine As Europe Looks After Its Own Interests

Spain’s national government has moved once again to boost domestic oil and gas exploration

The United States exported 401,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) of crude oil in July 2014

Russia is set to remain a central player of the European gas industry, as an eventual deal between Kiev and Moscow is not a precondition of strong ties between the European Union and the Kremlin. This is was a view emerging from the first day of the European Autumn Gas Conference.

British wholesale gas prices for the rest of this year fell on Friday after Ukraine and Russia signed a deal which will see Moscow resume supplies of gas over the winter.

Natural gas is creating a new reality for economies around the world.

Russian natural gas giant Gazprom believes that winter 2014/2015 may be “colder than usual”.

The Ukraine crisis caused relations between Russia and the EU to fall to their lowest point since the Cold War. But despite the bickering and outright conflicts, both still need each other: Europe relies on Russian gas to keep warm, and Russia in turn needs revenues. With winter on its way and capital flight from Russia reaching dangerous levels, the outlook should draw the EU and Russia back together.

As the European calls for diversification away from Russian sources of natural gas continue in the wake of the Ukraine crisis, a just released study from The Brookings Institution shows that the European Union is likely to be using a lot of Russian gas even by the year 2040.