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.

Ukraine and Russia resolved their natural-gas feud on Thursday in a hard-fought deal that averts the threat of gas shortages in Europe this winter.

The European Union's executive body is close to signing off on two disbursement of loans promised to Ukraine that would give Kiev about EUR760 million ($965 million) in additional funding by the end of the year, two senior officials said Tuesday.

Ukraine is likely to face energy shortages this winter if last-ditch talks to resume gas supplies from Russia fail on Wednesday.

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.

Europe’s natural gas supply mix likely won’t change much without drastic policy interventions despite recent renewed concern over instability in Ukraine, a new Brookings Institution policy brief concluded. This effectively will ensure a continuing significant market share for Russia, it said.

Bulgaria, Finland and Estonia could suffer major gas shortages if Russia cut off all its gas deliveries for six months, according to a report released Thursday by the European Commission.