The tanker is the first of a new class of icebreaking LNG carriers that will open an export route from Siberia to the Pacific — reducing Russia’s dependence on selling gas through pipelines to Europe.

Pakistan LNG Limited opened the financial bids for the supply of 240 shipments of LNG January 19. Gunvor has bagged a five-year contract to supply 60 shipments while Eni has been awarded a 15-year contract to supply 180 shipments.

Pakistan LNG Limited will open financial bids for the supply of 240 shipments of LNG on January 19, while contracts to successful bidders will be awarded on Jan 31.

For the year, the world's third biggest oil consumer bought about 473,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil from Iran to feed expanding refining capacity, up from 208,300 bpd in 2015, the data showed.

India and Japan should co-operate on long term contracts for LNG with a defined cost of energy which would provide a stabilizing factor for the renewable energy thrust that India is currently giving, Indian minister for power, coal, new & renewable energy and mines, Piyush Goyal said January 11 on the side-lines of the seventh India-Japan Energy Forum in New Delhi.

The Georgian government has agreed with Gazprom proposals over gas transits via Georgia's territory and will sign a deal for 2017 and 2018, its energy minister Kakha Kaladze told reporters in Tbilisi. Gazprom Export will now pay a transit fee in cash, rather than in the form of gas supplies, as in the past.

Iraq plans to raise crude exports from its southern port of Basra to an all-time high in February, keeping exports high even as OPEC production cuts take effect this month.

Gazprom’s gas exports to Europe hit an all-time high for the gas industry in 2016, totaling 179.3 billion cubic meters. Compared to 2015, it is an increase of 12.5 per cent, or 19.9 billion cubic meters in absolute terms, which is commensurate with the volumes we delivered to the U.K. last year, namely 17.8 billion cubic meters.

"We are also on track to hit this year an absolute record of annual gas exports, both of Soviet times and the history of modern Russia,"

According to latest data published by oil ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC), LNG imports in October were 2.26bn m³, up almost 18.6% compared with the same month last year. Cumulative imports too remain substantially higher. For the April-October period, India’s LNG imports were 14.9bn m³, up by 25% on year.

Russia's gas production, including associated petroleum gas, is estimated at 637 Bcm in 2016, which would represent a marginal increase of 0.2% year on year, energy minister Alexander Novak said late Tuesday.

The annual volume of the global gas trade is expected to increase from around 1,000bn m3 currently to 1,650bn m3 by 2040; an absolute growth of 65%.

China's state oil and gas majors are set to import record levels of liquefied natural gas (LNG) this month, betting on robust demand during the cold winter months and helping lift Asian prices to their highest in nearly two years.

Japanese refiners have received notices of crude supply cuts from "some producers" for January loading, following OPEC's November 30 decision to cut production.

Iraq plans to increase crude-oil exports in January, government records show, immediately raising questions about its commitment to slashing production in line with OPEC’s landmark production agreement last month.