“You also need a low cost structure and a strong balance sheet for a strong credit rating with good access to the debt markets,” Lance said. “A company like ours also needs to be able to react quickly to developments.”

US oil major Chevron said on Tuesday it planned to sell up to 1m metric tonnes of LNG a year to China Huadian Green Energy from 2020, ensuring 80 per cent of gas from its Gorgon and Wheatstone projects is committed in long-term contracts.

A spokesman for the US oil and gas producer confirmed it had sold its 50 per cent stake in the venture, which is focused on the far north-west of Russia. Rosneft, the Russian state oil company, also sold its stake in the asset last week, in a deal that valued the business at about $150m-$200m, according to one person familiar with the matter.

Gazprom and some utilities say Nord Stream-2 is the most pragmatic solution to shoring up Europe's energy security. The European Commission has said it is assessing its legality.

The deal, which could be worth around $1 billion based on the valuation of a recent stake purchase, is expected to take final shape during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Moscow next week for summit talks with President Vladimir Putin, said the sources with direct knowledge of the situation.

Within the ambit of delivering strategic goals of boosting production, securing deliveries of oil and oil products, maintaining a market share (both in Russia and abroad), the Company plans to increase capital expenditures by a third (compared to 2015 levels).

In theory, the European Union is pursuing a single energy market, based on the needs of all 28 EU nations. It is also meant to be united against Russia as it seeks to defend the interests of Ukraine following Moscow's seizure of Crimea in March last year.

“Currently, they have their sights firmly on the Americas, having expressed interest in future gas projects in Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, and Bolivia, among others.”

OAO NOVATEK announced today the signing of binding definitive agreements as part of a transaction for selling an equity stake in the Yamal LNG project to China’s Silk Road Fund (“SRF”).

Saudi Aramco, the kingdom's state oil giant, is seeking to borrow $4.7 billion from banks to refinance capital used to build a refinery in collaboration with China's Sinopec, three sources with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday.

Suncor Energy today announced that it is sending a letter to shareholders of Canadian Oil Sands Limited ("COS"). The letter outlines the value of Suncor's offer to purchase all of the shares of COS against the poor performance and track record of COS and what Suncor believes are the severe risks facing COS as an independent company both now and in the future. Suncor strongly encourages COS shareholders to tender to its offer.

Shell is consulting experts and commercial partners about what to do with the reinforced concrete base structures, each of which rises 160m from the seabed and weighs about 300,000 tonnes. The low oil price has put companies under pressure to shut facilities as cheaply as possible.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc said it would cut about 2,800 jobs to meet a pledge of reducing operating costs by $3.5 billion following its takeover of BG Group Plc.

By 2035 global energy consumption increases by 37% from today’s levels with virtually all (96%) the growth in non-OECD countries and more than half coming from India and China.

Statoil and Repsol announce transactions in Norway, UK, US and Brazil