Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman began building an international energy company on Monday, closing a €5.1 billion ($5.7 billion) purchase of German utility RWE AG ’s oil-and-gas business over British opposition that could force the sale of the unit’s U.K. assets.

Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman said on Monday he would buy a number of gas licenses in the North Sea despite British opposition, threatening legal action if London should force him to sell them on to a third party.

Russia may sign an intergovernmental agreement on the Turkish Stream gas pipeline in the 2nd quarter of 2015.

Petróleo Brasileiro SA plans to dispose of as much as $13.7 billion in assets this year and next as part of efforts by Brazil's largest state-controlled company to reduce debt and protect cash.

The UK has blocked the sale of North Sea gasfields from Germany’s RWE to a multibillion-dollar investment fund backed by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman.

“Why do you want to rock the markets? The markets are calm. Demand is growing,” al-Naimi told reporters in Jazan, Saudi Arabia.

Russia's gas supplies to the Asia-Pacific Region by 2035 can rise ninefold from 14 to 130 billion cubic meters, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said at the Krasnoyarsk economic forum.

Things are not any easier for the natural gas business in Europe at the beginning of 2015, but in a session dedicated to new customers and new markets, industry representatives gathered in Vienna, Austria at the European Gas Conference offered their views on how gas might regain its position amid the numerous challenges.

Amid the military escalation in Eastern Ukraine, the geopolitical arm-wrestling between Brussels and Moscow, and its impact on natural gas matters, can only get more complicated.

New natural gas pipeline project from Russia to Turkey, the Turkish Stream, is the only option on the table at present for Russia, say experts.