At The Riga Conference 2014, the annual high-level meeting in its 9th year of local, EU and global security policy-makers and experts, energy security issues were featured prominently during debates.

Moldova faces a tough road in its bid to reduce dependence on Russian natural gas.

Encana of Canada has become the latest company working in North America’s shale reserves to make a leap to reduce its reliance on gas, and increase its oil production, by agreeing a $7.1bn deal to buy US-listed Athlon Energy.

Russia, Ukraine and the European Union moved closer to sealing the deal, with European Commissioner Günther Oettinger announcing on Friday that there is a high probability of signing a binding interim agreement by the end of next week.

Natural gas futures advanced in New York to the highest level in two weeks as concern eased that supplies would test storage limits before demand picks up with colder weather.

"The lifting of sanctions on Iran would be a game changer for world gas market," said Dr Seyed Mohammad Hossein Adeli, secretary general of the Gas Exproting Countries Forum, Zawya news website has reported.

The deal between Russia and China for importing some 38 billion cubic meters/year of natural gas through a pipeline connecting the two countries represents a key development not only for the two parties involved, but also for the role it will have in shaping the global price of LNG, according to Shigeru Muraki, vice chairman of the board at Japan's Tokyo Gas.

After Exxon Mobil Corp. mounted a campaign to warn U.S. officials that prematurely halting work with Russian oil giant Rosneft on an exploratory oil well could foul the Arctic, the Obama administration last week gave the company a two-week reprieve from sanctions on Russia.

Qatar has no plans to pitch in as an alternative supplier as Europe seeks to reduce its reliance on Russian gas according to the country's energy minister, AFP has reported.

Greenland is moving deliberately, but resolutely, in preparing to develop its oil and gas and other mineral resources, its premier said at the Brookings Institution.