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.

Such a strategy may be economically rational for Gazprom: already-low prices in the European gas market mean it could relatively easily push prices to a level at which it would be unprofitable to ship LNG from the US — and in doing so defend its market share in a region which accounts for the bulk of its profits.

The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 125.18 points, or 0.8 percent, to 16,069.64. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index picked up 10.41 points, or 0.6 percent, to 1,893.36. The Nasdaq composite index rose 38.51 points, or 0.9 percent, to 4,506.68. U.S. crude rose 92 cents, or 2.8 percent, to $33.22 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils, gained 79 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $33.89.

Currently Greece imports gas from Gazprom at a price of between $4.6 and 4.7 /mn Btu, Kitsakos said; from Turkey's Botas at $5.9/mn Btu; and from Algeria's Sonatrach at $6.5/mn Btu. Gas at the Dutch TTF is around $6/mn Btu. However, the price Cheniere will ask for gas is rumoured to be around $7/mn Btu.

Global LNG output is expected to rise by a third to about 330 million metric tons annually by 2018, according to Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Most of the new fuel will come from the U.S. and Australia, which is poised to topple Qatar as the biggest supplier. Unlike Saudi Arabia, the largest oil shipper, Qatar won’t be fighting for market share at the expense of earnings.

“The advent of [more sellers of] LNG is another challenge of the gas market,” Adeli said and noted that the U.S. has utilised modern technologies to produce gas from shale, so that the country has been turned from a gas importer to an exporter. Australia, another OECD country with no interest in joining organisations that could be seen as cartels, is already an LNG exporter and its output is rising sharply over the coming few years.

Crude oil prices ended 2015 below $40 per barrel (b), the lowest level since early 2009. Spot prices for the international crude oil benchmark Brent averaged $52/b in 2015, 53% below the level in 2014 and 49% below the average price over 2010-14. Spot prices for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil were also down 53% in 2015 compared with 2014, averaging $49/b for the year.

Underground sites are slated to hold about 130 million barrels, which would account for nearly a quarter of the 550 million-barrel SPR target set by Beijing for 2020, according to local media and analysts.

“Given the volumes of gas shipped to Europe, the marginal cost of additional Russian gas is low and they should be able to compete with US LNG supplies,” said Malcolm Johnson, a Guildford, England-based faculty member of The Oxford Princeton Programme, an energy training provider. “However, it is clear that in certain countries there is a desire to diversify supplies for supply security.”