Asia is getting a greater choice of crude from Alaska North Slope to Venezuela’s Carabobo and Iraqi Basrah Light as the U.S. shale boom cuts American demand for overseas oil.

The head of OAO Rosneft (ROSN) said maintaining dividends is a “sacred obligation” for Russia’s largest oil company as sanctions limit its financial flexibility.

LNG investments could soon increase as the fuel could soon benefit from a rising demand for gas from the transport sector.

There was a time when headlines about jets bombing Middle Eastern refineries would have sent oil prices soaring.

The chairman of a Philippine energy company said Friday a Chinese state-owned oil producer hasn't responded to a revived proposal to jointly explore a disputed area of the South China Sea but drilling will go ahead by 2016 with or without a partnership.

"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.

China, not Russia, could shape Asia’s energy future,

Russia says sanctions won't hurt rise in China oil exports

France’s Total on Monday said its joint venture with Russia’s Lukoil , to explore shale oil in western Siberia , had ground to a halt as a result of western sanctions.