Billions of barrels of oil could be lost completely, left in the seabed without the infrastructure or skills to get it out.

“We’ve worked out a common position,” Novak said, commenting on the deal. “We discussed various options, including doing nothing and cutting production.” An oil price at $50 a barrel is acceptable for exporters and consumers over the long term, he said. Brent crude, a global benchmark, traded at about $33 on Friday after dropping 45 percent over the past year.

The document reflects indicative terms and conditions in relation to the equity acquisition. Currently Rosneft owns 16,67% in this joint venture, after the transaction is completed Rosneft will increase its stake to 40% of JV and PDVSA participation will be reduced to 60%.

With more or less fanfare, several countries in the region have at one time or another announced their intention to become a gas hub. Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania have generally been the most vocal, though neither ever provided the specifics of what their respective hub proposal looks like.

“Russia will have to struggle for its market share one way or another,” said Andrey Polischuk, an oil and gas analyst at Raiffeisenbank AO in Moscow. Gazprom is gaining market muscle due to low oil now but may need changes to keep the price in line with competitors when crude rebounds, he said.

“The economy has held up surprisingly well when you consider the stresses on it” that include Western sanctions preventing banks and oil companies from issuing debt and imposing bans on high-tech oil equipment purchases, said Christopher Miller, Associate Director of the Brady-Johnson Grand Strategy Program at Yale ISS. “The reason is that government policies since 2008 have been relatively effective,” he said in a Feb. 18 presentation at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

LNG cannot reach every corner of Europe: there may be a lot of under-used capacity in import terminals in the Iberian peninsula but these are not useful for security of supply in mainland Europe except where they have reloading facilities. There is very little transport capacity overland into France.

Total imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by Japan, South Korea, and China, the three largest global LNG importers, all located in North Asia, declined by an average of 1.0 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) (5%) in 2015.

India's oil imports from Saudi Arabia and Iraq hit the highest in more than a decade last month as OPEC's top producers gained at the expense of Latin American crudes, a validation of the OPEC policy of maintaining output and fighting for market share.

On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Venezuela and Qatar conditionally agreed to cap their output at last month’s levels in order to halt a slide that has pushed oil prices to their lowest point in more than a decade. Oil prices recently plummeted below $30 a barrel, the lowest in 13 years.

Tarija hosted a working meeting between Alexey Miller and Evo Morales, President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia. The parties discussed a wide range of issues relating to the ongoing and future energy cooperation. This collaboration was noted to be strategic and long-term.

Rosneft's hydrocarbon reserve replacement ratio under the SEC classification amounted to 124%. Following 2015 Rosneft's hydrocarbon reserve life under the SEC classification totaled 19 years.

Oil prices fell 4 percent on Friday, with Brent down a third straight week, as record high U.S. crude stockpiles intensified worries that a plan to freeze world output will do little or nothing to reduce massive oil supplies already in the market.

U.S. Rig Count is down 27 rigs from last week to 514, with oil rigs down 26 to 413, and gas rigs down 1 to 101. Canadian Rig Count is down 16 rigs from last week to 206, with oil rigs down 9 to 109, and gas rigs down 7 to 97.

Saudi Arabia and Russia, the world’s two largest crude producers, agreed to freeze output after talks in Qatar.