The world’s largest listed oil company by output has spent the past four months trumpeting agreements to buy oil from Egypt, Libya and Iraqi Kurdistan, drilling exploration wells in southern Iraq and considering opportunities in Lebanon, as it chases deals to fuel its fledgling international expansion.

A government panel said in a report in April 2015 that Hazira LNG will look to expand the capacity of its LNG terminal in the western state of Gujarat by 50% to 7.5 MMtpy in the fiscal year to March 2017.

"This is a big event," Putin said. "If we keep moving at this pace, which I must say is rather impressive even to me...then Russia not only can but will become the largest LNG producer in the world."

The project has significant public importance, as it will give an impetus to economic and social development in the Russian Arctic. The Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area is home to some of Gazprom’s key fields, which are expected to provide the bulk of Russia’s natural gas in the long term. To ensure efficient field development, the transport infrastructure should be expanded accordingly.

Russian state gas exporter Gazprom, which supplies around a third of the EU's gas, with much coming via Ukraine, is keen for Nord Stream 2 to be built by 2019, when it must renegotiate gas transit fees with Kiev.

In the fourth quarter of 2016, profit attributable to our shareholders was 46.6 bln RUB, down 15.0% quarter-on-quarter. For the full year 2016, profit decreased by 29.0% and amounted to 206.8 bln RUB.

ConocoPhillips (COP.N) on Wednesday agreed to sell oil sands and western Canadian natural gas assets to Cenovus Energy Inc (CVE.TO) for C$17.7 billion ($13.3 billion), making it the latest international oil major to pull back from a region where high costs and low crude prices have made it hard for large companies to make an acceptable return.

Russian top gas producer Gazprom and National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) signed a memorandum on cooperation in the gas sphere on Tuesday.

Saudi Arabia has slashed the tax rate for state energy company Saudi Aramco as the company woos private investors and seeks the highest possible valuation ahead of its planned initial public offering in 2018.

Refining of crude oil into fuels such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel has for years been the industry's problem child, having to grapple with weak and volatile profit margins as well as competition from modern refineries built in China, India and the Middle East.

"This is a significant milestone for the Keystone XL project," said Russ Girling, TransCanada's president and chief executive officer. "We greatly appreciate President Trump's Administration for reviewing and approving this important initiative and we look forward to working with them as we continue to invest in and strengthen North America's energy infrastructure."

The state-owned company, known as Sinopec Corp, saw fourth quarter net profit jump to 17.25 billion yuan from 9.9 billion yuan in the third quarter, it said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The scaled-up IDA financing will build on a portfolio of 448 ongoing projects in Africa totaling about $50 billion. Of this, a $1.6 billion financing package is being developed to tackle the impending threat of famine in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa and other regions.

PETROBRAS - Net income of R$ 2,510 million in 4Q16, compared to a loss of R$ 16,458 million in 3Q-2016

Saudi Aramco is set to launch its first public bond sale, of around $2bn, as soon as this month, as it begins to tap local currency debt markets as part of a $10bn fundraising programme.