The US is overtaking Saudi Arabia to become the world’s largest producer of liquid petroleum, in a sign of how its booming oil production has reshaped the energy sector.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday there were good reasons to continue the European Union's energy partnership with Russia for the time being but that might change if Moscow continues to violate basic principles.

Hungarian oil group MOL is reasonably confident that its crude supplies from Russia will not be disrupted by the Ukraine conflict because its Russian partners are reputable companies, the head of its downstream business said.

Oil is in the midst of one of its steepest selloffs since the financial crisis, with prices falling 16 percent since mid-June. This has the Saudis contemplating even deeper cuts in oil production to keep prices from declining any further.

LNG investments could soon increase as the fuel could soon benefit from a rising demand for gas from the transport sector.

There was a time when headlines about jets bombing Middle Eastern refineries would have sent oil prices soaring.

West Texas Intermediate crude fell from the highest price in seven days as concern eased over the risk of a supply disruption in the Middle East. Brent declined in London.

At The Riga Conference 2014, the annual high-level meeting in its 9th year of local, EU and global security policy-makers and experts, energy security issues were featured prominently during debates.

По итогам полугодия «Газпром нефть» сохранила лидерство в отрасли по темпам прироста добычи и увеличению объемов переработки нефти, а также по таким показателям эффективности, как возврат на вложенный капитал и удельный операционный денежный поток на баррель нефтяного эквивалента.

Argentina’s YPF and Malaysia’s Petronas are negotiating a joint-venture with Mexico’s Pemex – possibly starting with shallow water fields – in a bid to become the first foreign oil companies to seize the opportunities of Mexico’s energy reform.

Mexico is “like a sweet shop in the oil business”, according to one executive, and international energy companies are eyeing the goodies it offers as they wait for technical and fiscal details to work out how much they can splurge.

"The lifting of sanctions on Iran would be a game changer for world gas market," said Dr Seyed Mohammad Hossein Adeli, secretary general of the Gas Exproting Countries Forum, Zawya news website has reported.

The deal between Russia and China for importing some 38 billion cubic meters/year of natural gas through a pipeline connecting the two countries represents a key development not only for the two parties involved, but also for the role it will have in shaping the global price of LNG, according to Shigeru Muraki, vice chairman of the board at Japan's Tokyo Gas.

After Exxon Mobil Corp. mounted a campaign to warn U.S. officials that prematurely halting work with Russian oil giant Rosneft on an exploratory oil well could foul the Arctic, the Obama administration last week gave the company a two-week reprieve from sanctions on Russia.

Qatar has no plans to pitch in as an alternative supplier as Europe seeks to reduce its reliance on Russian gas according to the country's energy minister, AFP has reported.