In all, OPEC's 14 members pumped 30.09 million b/d in May, a 170,000 b/d fall from April and the lowest since February 2015, before Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and the Republic of Congo joined and Qatar was still a member,

Even so, OPEC said it would tread cautiously. The organization forecast that 2019 oil consumption will rise 1.14 million b/d year-on-year, a downward revision of 70,000 b/d from last month's report, as "significant downside risks from escalating trade disputes spilling over to global demand growth remain."

Nord Stream 2, a 760-mile (1,225-km) pipeline project to ship gas from Russia under the Baltic Sea to Germany, would double the capacity of the existing Nord Stream pipeline and has divided the European Union.

Gazprom's supplies to Hungary from January 1 through June 5, 2019, totaled 4.3 billion cubic meters of gas, a 57.5 per cent increase versus the same period of 2018.

It was pointed out that the French demand for Russian natural gas has been on the rise for the last four years.

Russia's Gazprom Neft said Thursday it and Shell have agreed to create a joint venture to develop fields in West Siberia with combined estimated reserves of 1.1 billion mt of oil.

Over the last decade Russia and China have significantly increased their energy links, with Russia ramping up supplies of crude and gas, and attracting Chinese investment into major new energy projects.

A general contract for Russian-designed power units No. 3 and No. 4 construction with VVER-1200 reactors at Xudapu nuclear power plant was signed on June 5 in Moscow in presence of heads of Russia and China. The official signing ceremony took place during President of China Xi Jinping state visit to Russia.

On June 5, 2019, during the visit of Prime Minister of Slovakia Peter Pellegrini to Moscow, a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes was signed between ROSATOM and Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic.

TVEL Fuel Company of ROSATOM and the Slovak power generation company Slovenské elektrárne a.s. have signed contractual documents on supply of nuclear fuel to nuclear power plants in Slovakia for 2022-2026 with the possibility of the contract extension to 2030.