The European Union could significantly scale back sanctions and resume discussions with Russia on issues ranging from visa-free travel; cooperation with the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union; and the crisis in Libya, Syria and Iraq; if Russian President Vladimir Putin moves to end the crisis in eastern Ukraine, according to an EU discussion paper.

Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC), India’s biggest energy explorer, is banking on the world’s largest shale oil reserves to save its Russian acquisition. Stumbling blocks include oil prices at a five-year low and U.S. sanctions.

RWE is seeking to insert safeguards into a €5.1bn contract to sell North Sea gasfields to a Russian billionaire that would ensure the assets remain operational in the event of further sanctions.

BP Plc is in talks to buy a direct stake in an East Siberian oil producer from OAO Rosneft, the Russian oil producer facing U.S. and European financing bans, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

The Russian Foreign Ministry denounced new Western sanctions against Ukraine's Crimea region on Saturday as a "collective punishment" on local residents who voted in a referendum last March to join Russia.

Russia urges EU to lift sanctions, promises to waive counter-measures

Even as Western sanctions over Ukraine bite, crashing oil prices are hitting Russia's economy and government finances.

With Russia's economy battered by economic sanctions and plunging oil prices, President Vladimir Putin has allowed the central bank to administer strong medicine, sharply raising interest rates even as it freed the rouble to float.

TOTAL Senior Vice President on Strategy and Business Intelligence, Mrs. Helle Kristoffersen, stressed the importance of addressing Europe’s gas supply amidst the current crisis between Russia and Ukraine, speaking on the session panel on Global Energy Security, Supply and Demand at the Abu-Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference on November 12, 2014.

Sanctions are forcing Exxon Mobil Corp. to look for alternative assignments for an offshore rig supposed to sail back to the Russian Arctic next summer, writes Bloomberg.