The parties discussed relevant cooperation issues, placing an emphasis on planned gas supplies to China via the eastern and western routes, as well as the prospects of collaboration in the field of underground gas storage, gas-fired power generation, and natural gas vehicles.

Russia's Gazprom plans to export a record 165 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas to Europe this year, the company's deputy chief executive Alexander Medvedev told reporters on Thursday.

"Currently, Iran's crude oil exports, excluding gas condensates, have reached 2 million barrels per day (bpd)," Javadi said. "Iran's crude oil export capacity will reach 2.2 million barrels by the middle of summer."

Министр энергетики отметил, что страны АСЕАН являются одними из наиболее быстро растущих в мире по темпам роста объемов потребления энергии. «Сегодня в этом регионе потребляется вдвое меньше энергии, чем в среднем по миру, при этом с 1990 г. энергопотребление выросло в 2,5 раза», - отметил Александр Новак. По его словам, эта тенденция открывает для России «окно возможностей», связанных с поставками энергоресурсов, технологий и оборудования.

China's crude oil imports from Russia surged 52.4 percent in April from a year earlier to reach a record 1.17 million barrels per day (bpd), customs data showed on Monday, ahead of the previous record of 1.13 million bpd in December.

The average price of LNG shipments into the country was about $6.32 per million British thermal units in April, the least since August 2005, according to Bloomberg calculations based on preliminary data from the Ministry of Finance. Prices are expected to rebound in coming months as crude values have surged, according to Junzo Tamamizu, managing partner at Clavis Energy Partners LLC.

The US officials gave a positive assessment of Ukraine's sourcing of gas from Europe and the ongoing reform at Naftogaz and Ukraine’s gas market. They also commended the implementation of the corporate governance reform, which was based on OECD principles for state-owned enterprises.

Including the assumption of CPG debt, the total enterprise value of the transaction is approximately $13 billion.

Socar President Rovnag Abdullaev disclosed last week that Azerbaijan was in the process of negotiating an agreement under which it would purchase 3-5bn m³/yr of gas from Gazprom.

The parties plan to examine further opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation in the field of hydrocarbon prospecting, exploration and development. Among the opportunities being considered are joint activities within new projects at licensed blocks on the shelf of Vietnam and in third countries.

Libya's production was down to 212,000 barrels on Monday, after the largest National Oil Corp (NOC) subsidiary, AGOCO, was forced to slash output by one-third from southeastern fields, an NOC spokesman in Tripoli said.

Iran plans to double its Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) production in the post-sanctions era, Deputy Director of International Affairs for Marketing and Crude Oil Operation in the National Iranian Oil Company Safar-Ali Karamati said.

US commercial crude oil inventories, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, increased 2.8 million bbl for the week ended Apr. 29 compared with the previous week. The US Energy Information Administration estimated a total of 543.4 million bbl, which is historically high for this time of year.

China’s falling oil output and sliding U.S. production may help rebalance a market struggling to recover from the worst price crash in a generation

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.