"I will defend the position for the construction of Nord Stream II and (a) gas hub in Bulgaria - it is advantageous for the country and nobody can reproach me for that," Borisov told reporters.

The development of economic relations starting with the so-called suitcase trading of the early 1990s when Russian and Turkish tourists began to visit each other’s country, engaging in cross-border commerce, and ending with complex investment project such as Russia’s planned Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Turkey contributed to the softening of those rivalries.

“Russia plays a central role in the question of how we Europeans can secure our energy supply. Norway and Russia are the most secure and reliable energy partners for Europe”, said the former German Chancellor.

This decision will cost thousands of jobs and is an assault to American workers. It’s politics at its worst.

Pakistan and Russia signed a major agreement to build a 1,100-km gas pipeline from Lahore to Karachi, that will take cooperation between the two Cold War-era adversaries “to a new level”.

After the cancellation of the South Stream natural gas pipeline last December due to the EU’s blockage of the project, Russia announced an alternative project called the Turkish Stream which will hit the shore on the European side of Turkey near Kıyıköy.

Oil prices suffered their biggest selloff in five months on Monday, falling as much as 8 percent as Greece's rejection of debt bailout terms and China's stock market woes set off a deepening spiral of losses.

Pipelines do not determine flows: infrastructure is necessary, but flows depend on market realities. Nord Stream, for instance, expanded Russia’s export capacity by a third in 2012, yet Russia’s exports are still far below their pre-crisis levels. Exports from Algeria have suffered the same fate: in 2011, Algeria inaugurated a new pipeline to Spain, but Algeria’s pipeline exports to Europe were 35 percent lower in 2014 than in 2010. By contrast, Norway is not building new pipelines but its exports are steady and its market share is growing (since demand, the denominator, is falling).

Global trade of natural gas via pipelines fell the most on record last year as Russia halted exports to Ukraine and shipments declined from the Netherlands, the European Union’s biggest producer, according to BP.

China started construction last week of a pipeline to receive Russian gas, Russian state gas company Gazprom said on Tuesday.