Russia’s gas-transit agreement with Ukraine also expires at the end of the year, and there’s little clarity as of now if these volumes will still find their way to Europe.

The Worldwide Rig Count for March was 1,793, down 20 from the 1,813 counted in February 2024, and down 86,from the 1,878 counted in March 2023.

Several LNG buyers have delayed signing new long-term contracts with US producers until there is more clarity

The deal will further facilitate Australia's exports of coal and liquefied natural gas to Vietnam, the ministry said in a statement, noting that Australia is now a key coal supplier to Vietnam, accounting for 44% of its total coal imports.

Deputy Prime Minister and OPEC+ envoy Alexander Novak drove home the official line that sanctions make Russia stronger when he said in October, referring to the redirection of exports, "the main consumption of energy resources will in future be in [the Asia-Pacific] region... We would have to do this anyway. We just sped up a bit."

Qatar’s push highlights the importance of gas for the country. Exports of the fuel are the country’s biggest revenue earner which has already made it one of the wealthiest countries and helped boost its global clout since it started shipments about two decades ago.

The US placed Arctic LNG 2 under direct sanctions in November, in effect blocking its allies from buying the project’s gas when it starts production. The move followed an EU ban on the transfer of LNG-related technology to Russia in April 2022, two months after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The interest in additional supplies from China — the world’s biggest LNG importer — is emerging after a drop in spot prices made the fuel more cost competitive with local gas options and oil products,

SEFE’s trading of Russian LNG is controversial in Berlin, where lawmakers have urged the company to sever its links with Moscow. Germany opposes LNG imports from Russia, though it hasn’t banned them.

At the start of the month,we saw #Crudeoil longs data jump 17%, partly offsetting wrong-footed sales the previous week.Russia stated that the cut of 500k b/d to meet the quota expectations for the month of February as part of a package of cuts promised by the OPEC+.