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.

Russian state-owned oil and gas giant Gazprom is currently working to create a liquefied natural gas (LNG) distribution hub in Bahrain. The hub will be meant to intake LNG from various sources, including Russia.

The parties focused, inter alia, on the exploration activities in blocks 112 and 129–132 and the joint development of the Moc Tinh and Hai Thach fields. It was noted that the construction of 12 production wells, three production platforms, a floating hydrocarbon storage terminal, and a submarine pipeline system had been completed at these fields. The total accumulated production from the Moc Tinh and Hai Thach fields since its launch in 2013 has now reached 4.5 billion cubic meters of gas and 1.1 million tons of gas condensate.

Rosneft appreciates the prospects of cooperation with Pertamina, which will provide an additional channel for Rosneft to supply its high-margin products to one of the fastest growing economies in the region (4.79% GDP growth in 2015). The Republic of Indonesia, with a population of 254 million people, is the largest Asian-Pacific net importer of motor fuels and petrochemicals. Petroleum products, produced from Russian crude, are supplied to Indonesia primarily from South Korea and Singapore. It is crucial for Rosneft to arrange direct shipments of hydrocarbons, which will increase the economic efficiency of oil refining in Indonesia.

“Expanding LNG exports will create American jobs, grow our economy, strengthen the global marketplace and bolster strategic alliances abroad. U.S. LNG exports not only provide international consumers with greater choice, but also help them break dependence on nations that use their energy resources as a diplomatic and political weapon.