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.

Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, became the latest senior politician to criticise plans for a new pipeline bringing Russian gas to Germany, saying it would undermine the EU’s goal of reducing energy dependence on Moscow.

U.S. Rig Count is unchanged from last week at 709, with oil rigs up 17 to 541, and gas rigs down 17 to 168.

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.

Nord Stream-2 is still supposed to meet a hypothetical rise of EU gas demand, and also to deal with the abandonment of other projects, like the Nabucco project, which was largely abandoned in 2012, the South Stream project abandoned in December 2014, as well as the ill-fated Turkish Stream project, held hostage in the Russian-Turkish war of words that has followed the shooting down of a Russian warplane by the Turkish Airforce.

The additional volumes are roughly what Gazprom has been piping to the EU through Ukraine, raising concerns that the new route would allow Russia to strip Kiev of much of its remaining economic leverage and an important source of income.

The product of Turkey’s far-sighted, strategic energy partnership with Azerbaijan, TANAP will initially transport 16 bcm annually from the Shah Deniz field’s second phase of development via the expanded South Caucasus Pipeline (SCPX) extending across Azerbaijan and Georgia to the Turkish border.

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”).

Natural-gas prices plunged to a 14-year low, as the warmest start to winter on record in the U.S. saps demand for the heating fuel and deals another blow to struggling energy companies.

Turkmenistan on Sunday began building its segment of a natural gas pipeline to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (TAPI), a $10 billion project designed to ease its dependence on Russia and China.

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.

Iran has agreed a $3 billion contract with a consortium of Indian companies to develop the Farzad B gas field in the Persian Gulf, according to the Mehr news agency. The managing director of ONGC Videsh, the Indian company heading the partnership, said they had not yet been notified about the development.

Of Mr. Albayrak, Aaron Stein offers, “I think you have a new Turkish Energy Minister who is very close to Erdogan, speaks for Erdogan, coming into the cabinet, who may take a very hard line on Turkey's push to decrease the cost of the country's gas import bill, from Iran and Russia.”

U.S. Rig Count is down 28 rigs from last week to 709, with oil rigs down 21 to 524, and gas rigs down 7 to 185.

Turkish state pipeline company BOTAS imported 33.06 billion cubic meters of gas from various sources in Jan.-Oct. 2015, compared to 31.73 billion cubic meters in the same period of 2014.