Brent prices will average $49/b in 2021, up from an expected average of $43/b in the fourth quarter of 2020. Brent prices will average $47/b in the first quarter of 2021 and rise to an average of $50/b by the fourth quarter.

US opposition to the project -- on the grounds that it gives Russia too much leverage over European energy security -- continues to intensify.

LNG suppliers are continuing to respond to the uptick in demand and prices with the US now exporting at historically high volumes.

China's crude imports in the first 11 months to 11.03 million b/d, rising 9.2% year on year.

China's natural gas sales exceeded 950 million cu m/day across the nation, state-owned oil and gas infrastructure giant PipeChina said on its official WeChat on Nov. 21.

India will see a massive USD 66 billion investment in the building of gas infrastructure as the government pushes for greater use of the cleaner fuel with a view to cutting down carbon emissions, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Wednesday.

The government of Egypt, the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), and the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) have reached an agreement with the Italian and Spanish gas groups Eni and Naturgy to restart the 7.56 bcm/year (5.6 Mt/year) Damietta gas liquefaction plant in northern Egypt.

Specifically, the aggregate amount of gas supplied in November totaled 113.6 per cent of the planned volume for that month.

OMV already has a long-term Russian gas import contract with Gazprom for 6 Bcm/year for deliveries to Austria that is set to run until 2040.

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories decreased by 0.7 million barrels to 488.0 million barrels

The preliminary level for dry natural gas production in September 2020 was 2,678 billion cubic feet (Bcf), or 89.3 Bcf/d. This level was 5.4 Bcf/d (-5.7%) lower than the September 2019 level of 94.7 Bcf/d.

Construction work on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea will resume this week, despite U.S. sanctions designed to end the pipeline that will bring Russian gas to Germany.

The DNV GL spokesman said: "Under these new guidelines, we find DNV GL's verification activities linked to vessels with equipment serving the Nord Stream 2 project to be sanctionable."

"The macroeconomic situation has had a negative impact on the long-term development prospects of the LNG industry," Gazprom said, adding that so far in 2020 only one final investment decision had been made for a new LNG production project.

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories decreased by 0.8 million barrels to 488.7 million barrels