Gazprom has switched to the stage of building the offshore section of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline intended to bring Russian natural gas to Europe via Turkey, Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller said on Friday.

The United States, wading into the international efforts to shape Greece’s economic and geopolitical orientation, is pushing the leftist government in Athens to resist Russia’s energy overtures.

U.S. Rig Count is down 11 rigs from last week to 894, with oil rigs down 11 to 668, gas rigs down 1 to 221, and miscellaneous rigs up 1 to 5.

A major challenge ahead for the offshore oil and gas industry will be figuring out how to fill the 50 million-b/d gap in liquids production that will be needed to match rising demand by 2040, IHS Energy Chief Upstream Strategist Bob Fryklund told attendees May 4 at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston.

Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh will visit Germany on May 7th after a large German economic delegation of more than 100 businessmen arrived in Tehran in late April to spur bilateral ties.

Condensate is especially important now because it’s not covered by sanctions on Russia’s oil industry that have targeted Arctic drilling and shale projects. Production of the ultra- light crude will swell as much as 17% this year, according to estimates by Gazprombank. That makes it a key factor driving growth, said Alexander Nazarov, an analyst at the country’s third biggest lender.

A flagship Russian gas project may soon test Moscow’s newfound willingness to cede greater control of its energy assets to Beijing in exchange for much-needed Chinese financing.

The gas war between Russia and the West has been limited to the verbal so far and not seen any casualties except for the cancellation of the South Stream project.

U.S. Rig Count is down 27 rigs from last week to 905, with oil rigs down 24 to 679, gas rigs down 3 to 222, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 4.

Last December Moscow took Europe by surprise with an announcement that South Stream, a 63 billion cubic metre (bcm) pipeline designed to bring Russian natural gas to southern Europe across the Black Sea would be scrapped and replaced with a pipeline of similar capacity that would cross Turkey and stop at its border with Greece.