“Conoravirus ... is a short-lived factor which is affecting oil prices ... There will be an OPEC (and non-OPEC) meeting, compensatory measures will be taken which will take the excess oil off the market and the oil price will rebound,” Fedun said.

Bulgaria imports 2.9 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia per year under a long-term contract valid through 2022.

Despite heavy lobbying by Saudi Arabia, the 23-country coalition of OPEC and non-OPEC producers has yet to agree on any plans to rein in crude oil production further.

Russian oil output stood at 11.29 million barrels per day (bpd) in February,

Scientists at the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI (Russia) have created a new type of solar panel based on hybrid material consisting of quantum dots (QDs) and photosensitive protein.

The Dabaa plant is the first nuclear plant for peaceful uses, with a total capacity of 4.8 gigawatts. The project is financially supported by Rosatom through a Russian loan amounting to $25 billion.

TNK Trading International SA is scheduled to load 14.3 million barrels of Venezuelan crude in the first two months of 2020, compared with 5 million in all of 2019, according to shipping reports compiled by Bloomberg. That may offset any lost oil revenue for the Maduro administration, underscoring the difficulty of shutting Venezuela’s access to the global market.

The global impact of coronavirus will only be “short term”, according to the CEO of Saudi Aramco.

Unlike the Arctic, which is open to hydrocarbon exploration, the Antarctic's mineral resources, including oil and gas, are protected by amendments to the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, to which Russia is a signatory.

Despite the partial recovery, oil prices are still far below the level many OPEC members need for their budgets to balance.