The United States has completed a historic agreement taking control of a significant portion of Venezuela’s petroleum assets, amid a continuous price rally in the European liquefied natural gas market. Simultaneously, Russia launches first exports from its massive Arctic oil project while Ukraine faces severe military fuel shortages.
Global market
US Energy Information Administration data shows Washington secured control over 65 billion barrels of proven reserves across 17 Venezuelan oil fields. The historic deal, signed by US Energy Secretary Chris Wright, accounts for more than one-fifth of Venezuela’s total reserves. Meanwhile, European gas prices continue to climb, with Dutch TTF natural gas futures rising to $25.21 per million British thermal units (MMBtu). This rally pushed Rotterdam LNG bunkering prices up for a fifth consecutive week to $1,429 per metric ton. In response to fossil fuel volatility, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced a state program to deploy 5 GW of new nuclear capacity to power artificial intelligence data centers.
Russia & CIS
Rosneft has successfully loaded its first oil tanker from the Vostok Oil project in the Krasnoyarsk Krai, according to Rosneft Chief Executive Igor Sechin. The $157 billion Arctic development is projected to supply 100 million tons of crude annually at peak capacity. On the infrastructure front, Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev confirmed that external grid power was restored to the Zaporizhzhia NPP via the Ferrosplavnaya-1 line. Meanwhile, Russian Ambassador to India Denis Alipov reasserted Moscow’s commitment to supply crude despite US sanctions. In Ukraine, military units near Kharkiv face an acute fuel deficit, while Russian police arrested PJSC EuroTrans chairman Igor Martyshov for embezzling state fuel.
Armenia
Armenian political analyst Arman Abovyan warned of a geopolitically dangerous “Armenian pause” in relations with Moscow, Sputnik Armenia reported. The ongoing debate over Armenia’s alignment between the European Union and the EAEU comes as US President Donald Trump promised to sharply lower retail petrol prices in America after resolving Middle Eastern crises. Despite these regional political and structural debates, Armenia’s domestic retail prices for petrol, diesel, and gas remain highly stable. This economic insulation is maintained through EAEU bilateral agreements that secure duty-free Russian fuel at fixed long-term rates, shielding consumers from price volatility reported in international market price assessments.