Therefore, OPEC has raised its supply to Asia, and Russia has also re-routed a great chunk of its rising production toward China and the Asia-Pacific over the past decade. Russia surpassed Saudi Arabia as China's biggest supplier last year, exporting 1.05 million bpd of crude versus Saudi Arabia's 1.02 million.

Despite a drive by the European Union to diversify gas supplies and reduce its reliance on Russian imports, Gazprom increased its market share in Europe to 34 percent last year from 31 percent in 2015, posing a challenge to policymakers.

“Today’s action to reapply for the Keystone XL Pipeline’s cross-border permit is an important step forward to building a 21st Century energy infrastructure system across our nation,” said Gerard. “The Keystone XL Pipeline would support tens of thousands of jobs, contribute billions of dollars to our economy, and deliver energy efficiently and safely to consumers.

The Tapi pipeline is projected to export up to 33bn m3 of natural gas a year from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India over 30 years. It was earlier scheduled to be operational in 2019 but, because of delays in achieving financial closure, the pipeline's first gas flows from Turkmenistan are now scheduled for 2020. The much delayed project was formally inaugurated on December 13, 2015.

India’s double-digit LNG import growth took a breather in the month of December, falling 2.9% on year, according to oil ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell.

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.