Gazprom and CNPC broadening strategic cooperation in energy sector

Oil supplies fell by around 1.5 million barrels per day last month, including by 1 million bpd for OPEC, leading to record initial compliance of 90 percent with a six-month output-cut deal reached in December by big producers to boost prices.

Now the human drama watch begins; will Putin cave in to the demands of the West to renounce his allies in exchange for the improved relation and the dropping of sanctions?

The European Union, although reliant on Russian oil and gas, says it will never recognize Moscow's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula and expects the Kremlin to abide by the Minsk peace deal brokered for eastern Ukraine.

"За январь статистика показывает, что колебания цен были в диапазоне примерно 5 долларов относительно средней, 55 долларов. Можно говорить и о постепенном восстановлении инвестиционной привлекательности отрасли, в этом году впервые за последние три года все участники рынка ожидают увеличения инвестиций в отрасль, что позволит в будущем избежать обвала добычи"

Therefore, OPEC has raised its supply to Asia, and Russia has also re-routed a great chunk of its rising production toward China and the Asia-Pacific over the past decade. Russia surpassed Saudi Arabia as China's biggest supplier last year, exporting 1.05 million bpd of crude versus Saudi Arabia's 1.02 million.

Despite a drive by the European Union to diversify gas supplies and reduce its reliance on Russian imports, Gazprom increased its market share in Europe to 34 percent last year from 31 percent in 2015, posing a challenge to policymakers.

Abullah bin Mohammed Al Thani, the fund’s chief executive, said it would invest a further $2bn on top of $500m of existing investments in the country. Some of the investments would be made jointly with the $10bn sovereign Russian Direct Investment Fund, its partner in a deal last summer for St. Petersburg’s airport, he added.

Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said OPEC’s 13 nations and 11 producers outside the cartel had made collective cuts totaling 1.5 million barrels a day since agreements were struck in late November and early December. Oil prices have risen nearly 20% since those deals were made, despite widespread skepticism over whether OPEC and other producers would follow through.

The tanker is the first of a new class of icebreaking LNG carriers that will open an export route from Siberia to the Pacific — reducing Russia’s dependence on selling gas through pipelines to Europe.