The United States is deeply concerned about the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline project as a threat to national security, a senior U.S. energy envoy said on Friday, after the issue was raised at talks in Washington this week.

Japan is aiming to become an international LNG trading hub by the early 2020s, opening access to receiving terminals and beefing up large-scale storage facilities.

Azerbaijan can boost annual gas exports to 50bn m3 by 2050, deputy energy minister Natig Abbasov said recently.

American LNG will be part of the approach towards diversification of sources of gas in Europe, in contrast to projects like Nord Stream 2 or the revived South Stream, which she said are not real sources of diversification.

Russian state-owned oil and gas giant Gazprom is currently working to create a liquefied natural gas (LNG) distribution hub in Bahrain. The hub will be meant to intake LNG from various sources, including Russia.

Gazprom reported the average production cost of natural gas in 2015 at ₽1643 per 1000 cubic meters (mcm) or $27.09/mcm or $0.84/MMBtu. The corresponding numbers for 2014 are ₽1470/mcm, $38.73/mcm and $1.21/MMBtu. The cost in US dollars is affected by the devaluation of Russian ruble. The average US dollar rate in 2015 was ₽60.66 compared with ₽37.97 in 2014.

Profit attributable to owners of PJSC Gazprom for the year ended December 31, 2015 totaled RUB 787,056 million which is RUB 628,052 million, or 5 times more than for the year ended December 31, 2014.

The Company’s Normalized EBITDA, including our respective share in the EBITDA of joint ventures, amounted to RR 62.1 billion, representing a 13.3% increase compared to the EBITDA for the first quarter 2015. Profit attributable to NOVATEK shareholders increased by 3.7 times to RR 115.9 billion, as compared to RR 31.1 billion in the first quarter 2015.

“Expanding LNG exports will create American jobs, grow our economy, strengthen the global marketplace and bolster strategic alliances abroad. U.S. LNG exports not only provide international consumers with greater choice, but also help them break dependence on nations that use their energy resources as a diplomatic and political weapon.

Putin's interest in Israeli gas is neither secret nor new. In 2012 Russia's Gazprom discussed the possible purchase of a 30% stake in Israel's offshore Leviathan gas field. In 2013 Gazprom signed a contract to purchase much of the Tamar gas field's production but the contract wasn’t approved by Israel's Energy Ministry.

Russia has been developing new pipeline projects such as South Stream, Turk Stream and Nord Stream 2. If one of them were to be realized then transit risk stemming from Ukraine would be severely minimized and Moscow would have important strategic leverage.

Russia's largest independent gas producer Novatek plans to raise further $12bn in external financing for the Yamal LNG project, said Novatek CEO Leonid Mikhelson.

Now the two sides, buyer and seller, will have to make do without the safety-net the contracts offered: high gas demand translates into high gas prices for the customers, while indexation to low oil prices would have deprived Gazprom of the upside of a temporary supply glitch or a prolonged cold winter.

Gas output from the top seven shale deposits will fall by 1.1 percent to 45.93 billion cubic feet a day from April, the biggest percentage decline since March 2013. The retreat is led by the oil-rich Eagle Ford deposit in Texas and the Niobrara shale in Colorado and neighboring states, where gas is pumped as a byproduct of crude extraction.

OAO Yamal LNG (“Yamal LNG”) announced the signing of an agreement with Sberbank and Gazprombank on a 15-year credit line facility for the total amount of EUR 3.6 billion at EURIBOR 6M plus 4.7% annual interest rate. The agreement signed with the Russian banks is part of the project financing package for Yamal LNG.