Natural-gas prices plunged to a 14-year low, as the warmest start to winter on record in the U.S. saps demand for the heating fuel and deals another blow to struggling energy companies.

Turkmenistan on Sunday began building its segment of a natural gas pipeline to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (TAPI), a $10 billion project designed to ease its dependence on Russia and China.

By 2035 global energy consumption increases by 37% from today’s levels with virtually all (96%) the growth in non-OECD countries and more than half coming from India and China.

Iran has agreed a $3 billion contract with a consortium of Indian companies to develop the Farzad B gas field in the Persian Gulf, according to the Mehr news agency. The managing director of ONGC Videsh, the Indian company heading the partnership, said they had not yet been notified about the development.

Of Mr. Albayrak, Aaron Stein offers, “I think you have a new Turkish Energy Minister who is very close to Erdogan, speaks for Erdogan, coming into the cabinet, who may take a very hard line on Turkey's push to decrease the cost of the country's gas import bill, from Iran and Russia.”

U.S. Rig Count is down 28 rigs from last week to 709, with oil rigs down 21 to 524, and gas rigs down 7 to 185.

Turkish state pipeline company BOTAS imported 33.06 billion cubic meters of gas from various sources in Jan.-Oct. 2015, compared to 31.73 billion cubic meters in the same period of 2014.

The 180-km (110-mile) pipeline will be built by a Bulgarian-Greek joint venture that also includes Italian energy group Edison SpA.

The agreement will involve the development of five trillion cubic feet of gas resources, as well as 55 million barrels of condensates. Production from WND is expected to be around 1.2 billion cubic feet a day (bcf/d) and all the produced gas will be fed into Egypt's national gas grid.

Canada’s oil and gas companies have eliminated at least 40,000 jobs this year, the industry’s lobby group estimates, while companies have curtailed spending. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., the nation’s largest heavy oil producer, will rely on cash flow to cover its capital spending next year after eliminating C$3.2 billion ($2.4 billion) from its 2015 budget. Blackpearl Resources Inc., a small operator, will spend only C$15 million next year, a fraction of the C$235 million the company spent in 2014.