Billions of barrels of oil could be lost completely, left in the seabed without the infrastructure or skills to get it out.

With more or less fanfare, several countries in the region have at one time or another announced their intention to become a gas hub. Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania have generally been the most vocal, though neither ever provided the specifics of what their respective hub proposal looks like.

“Russia will have to struggle for its market share one way or another,” said Andrey Polischuk, an oil and gas analyst at Raiffeisenbank AO in Moscow. Gazprom is gaining market muscle due to low oil now but may need changes to keep the price in line with competitors when crude rebounds, he said.

LNG cannot reach every corner of Europe: there may be a lot of under-used capacity in import terminals in the Iberian peninsula but these are not useful for security of supply in mainland Europe except where they have reloading facilities. There is very little transport capacity overland into France.

Россия и Австрия достигли положительных результатов по вопросу строительства газопровода «Северный поток – 2». По мнению вице-канцлера Австрии, проект «Северный поток — 2», по которому российский газ будет поставляться в Германию по дну Балтийского моря, позволит надежнее обеспечивать Европу газом.

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.

Spanish gas utility company Gas Natural Fenosa has recorded a net profit of €1.502bn for 2015, an increase of 2.7%, the company said in a press release on February 3. Total earnings before tax, interest, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) for 2015 is recorded at €5.376bn, exceeding a target of €5bn set out in Gas Natural Fenosa's 2013-2015 strategic plan.

In addition to a £250m UK City Deal signed earlier in the day, the PM has set out an action plan of further measures to help build a bridge to the future for the industry, which is vital for our energy security and has been at the heart of the UK economy for decades, generating jobs, skills and growth.

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.

European stocks deepened a monthly rout as disappointing earnings reports reignited investor concern about global growth prospects and oil prices resumed their downward trend.

British wholesale gas prices have fallen over 40 percent in the past year, as mild winter temperatures softened demand amid a sell-off in crude oil markets to which seasonal gas contracts are indirectly linked, and pressure has been mounting on power companies to lower retail prices for households.

“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.”

“While the UK offshore oil and gas industry is having to adapt to the low oil price and driving greater efficiencies throughout its operations the fact is that the value of our product has more than halved," she said. "Times are really tough for this industry and for the people working in it. We will continue to see job losses as we move into 2016 and we must be thoughtful and supportive of our colleagues and their families who are being made redundant or who are at risk of being made redundant."