The dominant player in Austria’s oil and natural gas sector, OMV, has signaled that a Russia-related political scandal that recently toppled the government in Vienna will not halt the Austrian company from deepening its ties with Russian energy firms. This became apparent in early June,... MORE

Two long-term natural gas contracts between Russia and Ukraine are set to expire in December. And as this deadline approaches, the two sides are preparing for necessary renegotiations. Kyiv needs to avoid a repetition of January 2009, when parts of Europe were left without gas... MORE

Three developments since early June 2019 call attention to China’s unrelenting efforts to become the dominant player on the Northern Sea Route (NSR)—the increasingly ice-free Arctic waterway along Russia’s northern coast, and the main segment of the longer Northeastern Passage, linking Asia and Europe. First,... MORE

On December 29, 2018, the head of the occupying government in Crimea, Sergey Aksenov, proposed to transport Ukrainian offshore oil and natural gas drilling rigs (“nationalized” by Russia after the Crimean annexation) from the Black Sea to the Syrian coastal shelf (UAWire, December 30, 2018).... MORE

A joint venture led by Russia’s Novatek has chosen the French-American company TechnipFMC to spearhead its new Arctic LNG 2 liquefied natural gas project on the Gydan Peninsula, in northern Siberia. The same Western firm previously oversaw the work on Novatek’s first LNG facility on... MORE

Speaking at the 11th Arctic Council Ministerial meeting in Rovaniemi, Finland, on May 7, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo warned that the pattern of aggressive Chinese behavior in other regions may give important indications to how China will act in the Arctic (Rambler.ru, May... MORE

Azerbaijan’s participation in the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, which took place in Beijing, on April 25–28, proved successful for Baku, having resulted in a number of important new, non-oil-sector investment projects in the South Caucasus country. Specifically, during the Forum, Azerbaijani... MORE

Speaking at the Belt and Road Forum, in Beijing (April 25–27), President Vladimir Putin stated that Russia is “considering a merger between the Northern Sea Route [the segment of the Northeast Passage running along the Russian coast] and the Chinese ‘Maritime Silk Road’ initiative,” which... MORE

April 2019 saw a flurry of activity around the Baltic Pipe infrastructure project set to connect Poland and Denmark. The pipeline, which will carry around 10 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas from the North Sea to Poland and further to the Baltic States, is... MORE

The European Commission and its president, Jean-Claude Juncker, are bracing for a May 13 deadline, presented to them on April 12 in a quasi-ultimatum form by Nord Stream Two project company CEO, Matthias Warnig (112.international, April 23). On the company’s behalf, Warnig threatens to sue... MORE