Even with the decline in rigs, U.S. dry natural gas production continued to grow, reaching record highs in December 2014 of more than 74.3 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), and retaining an average production in February 2015 of more than 74.2 Bcf/d, a 10% year-over-year rise from February 2014.

Despite Europe’s desire to loosen its reliance on Russian gas, the shale revolution has turned out to be a dud. Difficult geological conditions, fierce environmental opposition, cumbersome regulations and a bloody war in Ukraine have conspired to quash investors’ enthusiasm and wear down their patience. The collapse of oil prices to less than $50 a barrel in March was the final straw because the cost of much of Europe’s gas, including Russian imports, is linked to crude.

North Sea Brent crude oil prices averaged $60/barrel (b) in April, a $4/b increase from March and the highest monthly average of 2015. Despite increasing global inventories, several factors contributed to higher prices in April, including indications of higher global oil demand growth, expectations for declining U.S. tight oil production in the coming months, and the growing risk of unplanned supply outages in the Middle East and North Africa.

“We’re entering a phase when all the excess capacity will be resized to the new US world market share,” said Subash Chandra, managing director and senior equity analyst at Guggenheim Partners. “I don’t expect prices to go above $70-75/bbl. If it hits $90, US producers will start working full-out again.”

Britain's largest energy supplier Centrica (CNA.L) has signed new gas contracts with two of the world's largest producers, Russia's Gazprom and Norway's Statoil, reflecting the UK's growing dependence on gas imports as its production declines.

Russia is preparing to sell his recently purchased North Sea gas fields.

A major challenge ahead for the offshore oil and gas industry will be figuring out how to fill the 50 million-b/d gap in liquids production that will be needed to match rising demand by 2040, IHS Energy Chief Upstream Strategist Bob Fryklund told attendees May 4 at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston.

Recent and projected increases in U.S. crude oil production have sparked discussion about how current limitations on crude exports affect prices, including world and domestic crude oil and petroleum product prices, and the level of domestic crude production and refining activity.

A flagship Russian gas project may soon test Moscow’s newfound willingness to cede greater control of its energy assets to Beijing in exchange for much-needed Chinese financing.

Banks in the U.S. are cutting credit lines to energy companies and forcing firms to cough up more collateral to guard against fallout from the past year’s plunge in oil prices, a Federal Reserve survey found.

Last December Moscow took Europe by surprise with an announcement that South Stream, a 63 billion cubic metre (bcm) pipeline designed to bring Russian natural gas to southern Europe across the Black Sea would be scrapped and replaced with a pipeline of similar capacity that would cross Turkey and stop at its border with Greece.

Russia’s gas giant Gazprom is ready to launch gas supplies to China via the so-called eastern corridor within 4 years, Deputy Chairman of Management Committee Alexander Medvedev said Wednesday.

Russian natural gas accounts for roughly a third of all foreign supplied natural gas coming into Europe. Russia’s biggest partner is Germany. In that state, Russia’s presence is on the upswing.

U.S. energy consumption has slowed recently and is not anticipated to return to growth levels seen in the second half of the 20th century. EIA's Reference case projections in the Annual Energy Outlook 2015 (AEO2015) show that domestic consumption is expected to grow at a modest 0.3% per year through 2040, less than half the rate of population growth. Energy used in homes is essentially flat, and transportation consumption will decline slightly, meaning that energy consumption growth will be concentrated in U.S. businesses and industries.

EIA expects the United States to be a net natural gas exporter by 2017.