The European Union is looking for alternative gas supply sources as a result of Russian involvement in the Ukrainian crisis and it now seems that it may be looking towards Iran to fulfil this need.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday there were good reasons to continue the European Union's energy partnership with Russia for the time being but that might change if Moscow continues to violate basic principles.

Hungarian oil group MOL is reasonably confident that its crude supplies from Russia will not be disrupted by the Ukraine conflict because its Russian partners are reputable companies, the head of its downstream business said.

At The Riga Conference 2014, the annual high-level meeting in its 9th year of local, EU and global security policy-makers and experts, energy security issues were featured prominently during debates.

Russia, Ukraine and the European Union moved closer to sealing the deal, with European Commissioner Günther Oettinger announcing on Friday that there is a high probability of signing a binding interim agreement by the end of next week.

"The lifting of sanctions on Iran would be a game changer for world gas market," said Dr Seyed Mohammad Hossein Adeli, secretary general of the Gas Exproting Countries Forum, Zawya news website has reported.

After Exxon Mobil Corp. mounted a campaign to warn U.S. officials that prematurely halting work with Russian oil giant Rosneft on an exploratory oil well could foul the Arctic, the Obama administration last week gave the company a two-week reprieve from sanctions on Russia.

Qatar has no plans to pitch in as an alternative supplier as Europe seeks to reduce its reliance on Russian gas according to the country's energy minister, AFP has reported.

US LNG to Help, Not to Solve European Problems with Russia

France’s Total on Monday said its joint venture with Russia’s Lukoil , to explore shale oil in western Siberia , had ground to a halt as a result of western sanctions.