"If oil is sold at a discount, then [consumers] will be happy to buy it. We will earn less, but we will be able to place oil," Novak said.

Germany and Hungary are putting the brakes on a potential EU embargo on Russian oil,

Russia accounts for about 40% of the European Union’s gas demand, and about a third of those shipments transit Ukraine.

Russian inflows to China hit a nine-month low of 1.42 million b/d in February, down 26.1% year on year and more than 25% month on month.

Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Иран готов поддержать Россию и развивать кооперацию в более интенсивном режиме, отметил в свою очередь Министр нефти Ирана Джавад Оуджи. «Россия находилась рядом с нами, когда мы попали под санкции, поэтому сегодня мы считаем своей обязанностью быть рядом с Россией в этих трудных условиях и оказывать содействие», – заверил он.

Compared to last year, the period from March 1 through March 15 saw increases in supplies to nine European countries, for instance, Italy (+51.7 per cent), Poland (+71.8 per cent), Croatia (+110.9 per cent), Greece (+34.6 per cent), Bulgaria (+24.4 per cent), as well as Turkey (+21.1 per cent).

But getting Saudi Arabia and the UAE to agree to pump more crude would require them to break a more-than-five-year partnership with Russia that has forged strong ties beyond oil — an uncertain prospect as they increasingly look eastward for political allies.

BGR meanwhile, has represented the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany, and Uranium One, a mining company owned by the Russian state-owned nuclear corporation Rosatom.

Finance minister Shaukat Tarin told the Financial Times that a deal with Russia to build the multibillion-dollar Pakistan Stream pipeline “is almost done”.