By Fuad SHAHBAZOV, Baku-based independent regional security and defence analyst

Russian military aggression against Ukraine launched almost two months ago has clearly signalled a change in the traditional world order and triggered the unprecedented reaction of the Western coalition led by the U.S. The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine has left the global energy market uncertain, threatening to cause severe energy shortages and oil prices exceeding $110 per barrel.
Since the Russian intervention in Ukraine kicked off, numerous sanctions packages have been imposed on Russia, hitting mostly financial institutes and state-owned companies. This resulted in Western countries’ consolidation, and the collective refusal of Russia-related transactions and import of Russian natural gas, oil, and coal. READ MORE

• May 12, 2022

Russia’s ambassador to Belarus said on Wednesday that Moscow had fully compensated Minsk for the 2019 contaminated oil crisis, Russian news agencies reported, a statement that Belarus subsequently questioned.

• February 10, 2021

Further sanctions against Russia need to target the right people, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Wednesday, adding that cancelling the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline would merely push Russia closer to China.

• February 10, 2021

By Jack Sharples, PhD, Research Fellow of the Oxford Institute of Energy Studies and EGF Associate Researcher on the External Dimensions of Russian Gas

Gazprom Export launched its Electronic Sales Platform (ESP) in the context of an increasingly competitive European market. Sales volumes have grown, and have averaged 2 bcm per month since April 2019. As a result of this growth, the ESP is now a key part of Gazprom’s European sales strategy: It generates additional sales revenues, optimises Gazprom’s use of is physical export infrastructure, and provides a constant flow of valuable market data that informs Gazprom’s wider sales strategy. Sales are largely concentrated in four countries, while deliveries are split between Ukrainian and non-Ukrainian routes. ESP sales prices closely track European hub prices for comparable products, and the sales volumes show that Gazprom’s counterparties consider the ESP an attractive offering. The operation of the ESP highlights the crucial element of Gazprom’s European sales strategy: The importance of nuanced optimisation, as Gazprom seeks to maximise its sales volumes without placing excessive downward pressure on European hub prices that would impact revenues from its hub-indexed LTC portfolio. Overall, the ESP demonstrates how far Gazprom has evolved in the past decade, as it seeks to retain market share on an increasingly competitive European market. READ MORE

• December 22, 2020

OPEC and allied producers on Monday pledged action to support the oil market as concerns mounted that a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic will hobble demand and an earlier plan to raise output from next year would further depress prices.

• October 21, 2020

The chief executive of Russian oil producer Gazprom Neft SIBN.MM said he expects global oil consumption to return to pre-crisis level in the second half of 2021, slightly later than the energy ministry's forecast for the second quarter.

• September 23, 2020

Oil prices were steady on Monday, supported by tighter supplies from major producers but held in check by concerns over a rise in coronavirus infections worldwide that could stall a recovery in fuel demand.

• June 22, 2020

U.S. senators announced a bill on Thursday expanding sanctions on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline and targeting the project Washington says will boost Moscow’s economic and political influence in Germany and other European countries.

• June 5, 2020