The low oil prices are a lucky charm for Iran, because the production costs in Iran are really low and you can't find any other place in the world that has such low production costs. Also, companies that are coming to invest in Iran would have access to both oil and gas reserves.

OPEC launched a price war against U.S. shale and other high-cost producers, including Canadian oil sands and Brazilian deep-water oilfields, in November 2014 by not reducing output despite a global oversupply. Since then, oil prices have plunged by more than half, hitting a 12-year low of about $26 on Feb. 11.

Billions of barrels of oil could be lost completely, left in the seabed without the infrastructure or skills to get it out.

“We’ve worked out a common position,” Novak said, commenting on the deal. “We discussed various options, including doing nothing and cutting production.” An oil price at $50 a barrel is acceptable for exporters and consumers over the long term, he said. Brent crude, a global benchmark, traded at about $33 on Friday after dropping 45 percent over the past year.

The document reflects indicative terms and conditions in relation to the equity acquisition. Currently Rosneft owns 16,67% in this joint venture, after the transaction is completed Rosneft will increase its stake to 40% of JV and PDVSA participation will be reduced to 60%.

With more or less fanfare, several countries in the region have at one time or another announced their intention to become a gas hub. Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania have generally been the most vocal, though neither ever provided the specifics of what their respective hub proposal looks like.

“Russia will have to struggle for its market share one way or another,” said Andrey Polischuk, an oil and gas analyst at Raiffeisenbank AO in Moscow. Gazprom is gaining market muscle due to low oil now but may need changes to keep the price in line with competitors when crude rebounds, he said.

“The economy has held up surprisingly well when you consider the stresses on it” that include Western sanctions preventing banks and oil companies from issuing debt and imposing bans on high-tech oil equipment purchases, said Christopher Miller, Associate Director of the Brady-Johnson Grand Strategy Program at Yale ISS. “The reason is that government policies since 2008 have been relatively effective,” he said in a Feb. 18 presentation at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

LNG cannot reach every corner of Europe: there may be a lot of under-used capacity in import terminals in the Iberian peninsula but these are not useful for security of supply in mainland Europe except where they have reloading facilities. There is very little transport capacity overland into France.

Total imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by Japan, South Korea, and China, the three largest global LNG importers, all located in North Asia, declined by an average of 1.0 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) (5%) in 2015.