"As BRICS participants are leading global consumers and producers of energy, our association could be more actively involved in issues of ensuring global energy security and universal access to energy," Putin said, during a meeting of the leaders of the BRICS countries ahead of the G20 Summit in Osaka. The BRICS group comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Imports from Russia came in at 6.36 million tonnes in May, or 1.50 million barrels per day (bpd), data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Tuesday.

“Today, more than ever, international cooperation is important,” Novak said in a speech at an energy forum in the Russian city of St Petersburg.

Iran and Russia already have a deal whereby Iran sells 100,000 b/d of crude oil to Russia and receives 50% of the value in cash and 50% in equipment.

"Over the next five years we will do everything necessary to become truly energy independent: we will unite our power grids with the European ones, integrate into the European energy market, increase oil and gas production and create conditions for the development of alternative energy sources. Together with the energy saving program this will make our economy more efficient and will give impetus to the development of Ukraine," the head of state said during a meeting with the business community in Kyiv.

More than a third of Europe’s gas comes from Russia, and most of that goes through Ukraine’s Soviet-era pipelines. Ukraine has proposed that the European Union store as much as 4 billion cubic meters of gas in its underground storage facilities to guarantee security of supply for eastern European countries heavily reliant on Russian gas, pipeline operator Ukrtransgaz said this week.

Iran and Russia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on oil and gas cooperation which will bolster the two countries’ energy relations.

OPEC and 10 non-OPEC partners, led by Russia, agreed in December to cut a combined 1.2 million b/d of production in the first half of 2019.

Gazprom's 10-year transit deal with Ukraine's Naftogaz expires on December 31 this year, with some in the European gas market becoming increasingly concerned that there could be disruption to Russian gas flows via Ukraine as a result.

The NWF currently stands at $59 billion and is expected to quadruple to over $200 billion, or 12% of gross domestic product, in 2021. Under the law, Russia may start to use the fund as soon as it reaches 7% of GDP.