South African President Jacob Zuma outlined ambitious plans on Wednesday for oil andgas exploration in coastal waters that he said could contain as much as 9 billion barrels of crude and vast quantities of natural gas.

Russian state gas giant OAO Gazprom said second-quarter profit rose 13% on higher sales and prices which offset provisions for non-payment by Ukraine’s Naftogaz.

Russia has proposed to Tokyo building a natural gas pipeline connecting fields in its far east with northern Japan, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Increasing access to modern forms of energy is crucial to unlocking faster economic and social development in sub‑Saharan Africa, according to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Africa Energy Outlook, a Special Report in the 2014 World Energy Outlook series.

Diversification of gas supply has been a strategic priority for the European Union since its dependence on imports began to grow in the early 2000s.

Russia seeks an acceleration of its business ties with China. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev suggested on Monday that the two countries could soon reach an agreement on a second pipeline.

Rosneft and Chinese National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) signed an agreement for the extensions of strategic cooperation.

Rospan International (Rosneft subsidiary) carried out a record hydrofracturing at the Urengoiskoe field, which resulted in the 9 times increase of production rate.

OAO Gazprom said profit for the first half of the year fell by almost one-quarter as Ukraine's Naftogaz didn't pay for gas supplied by the Russian state-controlled gas group.

Statoil ASA (STL), Norway’s biggest energy company, will sell its 15.5 percent stake in the Shah Deniz field in Azerbaijan to Malaysia’s Petroliam Nasional Bhd for $2.25 billion as it seeks to reduce investment and prioritize high-value projects.