2015

If Greece withdraws from the Turkish Stream project, which is planned to transfer Russian natural gas to Europe via the Turkish-Greek border, the U.S. will expect the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reward Greece

U.S. Rig Count is down 7 rigs from last week to 868, with oil rigs down 4 to 642, gas rigs down 3 to 222, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 4.

Russia will begin importing Iranian oil under a long-heralded oil-for-goods barter arrangement in the coming week, Iran's oil minister was quoted as saying, more than a year after negotiations began.

Compared with 2014, IHS expects investment capital in US shale oil plays to be 65% more efficient at the start of 2016 than the start of 2015 due to compounding productivity and cost cuts

The outlook in the Texas oil and gas sector remains negative as most companies expect low capital spending in 2016, the Dallas Federal Reserve said.

Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico met with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow and proposed a plan that would transfer gas from the Turkish border through Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia, thereby bypassing Greece.

Falling oil prices have resulted in much lower gas prices in many parts of the word. As a result, gas demand is enjoying the tailwind of substantial price drops while the upstream sector is suffering amid large capital expenditure cuts.

Examining the essential gas transmission infrastructure projects in Europe alone - without taking into account the upstream sector – according to the European Commission, investments of at least 70 billion EUR are required by 2020, while EU funding will provide €4.7 billion for both gas and electricity PCIs between 2014 and 2020, subject to final approval of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (in 2015).

Russia is still likely to be Europe's biggest supplier of gas. Volume-wise, no one will be able to compete with Russia in Europe, at least for the next two decades.

The volume of gas supply via the western route might be boosted to 60 and to 100 billion cubic meters of gas a year.