OPEC is resisting pressure to cut oil production while demand slumps as it tests how low prices must go to make U.S. shale oil unprofitable. As producers become more efficient, that floor is sinking.

Saudi Arabia effectively started a global oil price war this month aimed at quickly denting U.S. oil output. Slowing a U.S. drilling boom, however, could take more than a year.

Russia has proposed to Tokyo building a natural gas pipeline connecting fields in its far east with northern Japan, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The IEA Oil Market Report (OMR) for October reduced its forecast of global oil demand for 2014 by 0.2 million barrels per day (mb/d) from the previous month, to 92.4 mb/d, on lower expectations of economic growth and the weak recent trend. Annual demand growth for 2014 is now projected at 0.7 mb/d, rising tentatively to 1.1 mb/d in 2015 as the macroeconomic backdrop improves.

Two of OPEC’s biggest members say they won’t immediately reduce oil production to offset tumbling prices, a signal the group is unlikely to heed Venezuelan calls for an emergency meeting.

Increasing access to modern forms of energy is crucial to unlocking faster economic and social development in sub‑Saharan Africa, according to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Africa Energy Outlook, a Special Report in the 2014 World Energy Outlook series.

Diversification of gas supply has been a strategic priority for the European Union since its dependence on imports began to grow in the early 2000s.

Russia seeks an acceleration of its business ties with China. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev suggested on Monday that the two countries could soon reach an agreement on a second pipeline.

Rosneft and Chinese National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) signed an agreement for the extensions of strategic cooperation.

Rospan International (Rosneft subsidiary) carried out a record hydrofracturing at the Urengoiskoe field, which resulted in the 9 times increase of production rate.