7 MAY 2020 - The Belarusian government is mulling over the possibility of importing American oil into the republic through Poland, and the discussion of this issue will be resumed after the quarantine Poland had imposed on its territory due to coronavirus is lifted, First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Dmitry Krutoy told reporters on Thursday. "I think that when quarantine in Poland is lifted, we will start to discuss this topic more intensively," he said as quoted by the BelTA agency.

17 JUN 2020 - Kommersant: Belarus looking for alternatives to Russian gas. Belarus is gearing up to search for alternatives to Russian gas as relations between both countries are going through another rocky period, Kommersant reports. Previously, Minsk acted in the same way when it came to oil imports. Although it is possible to find alternative suppliers of oil to Belarus, other gas supply options are rather scarce, the newspaper notes. Minsk can purchase significant amounts of gas only through Ukraine or Poland, if Gazprom, which owns the Belarusian gas transport system, greenlights such deliveries. Belarus imports about 20 bln cubic meters of gas from Russia annually. This year, the price for Russian gas to Belarus hit a fixed $127 for 1,000 cubic meters. Minsk is requesting that Russia lower the price, citing a drop in spot prices in Europe.

By Felix Imonti - Donald Trump has no solution to the crisis in the domestic hydraulic fracturing industry that won’t have dire consequences for the economy. The survival of the industry lies in Saudi Arabia.

By Malte Humpert - Russia is one step closer to achieving year-round navigation in the Arctic. An ice-capable tanker made the earliest delivery of LNG to China via the Northern Sea Route. For the past several years a fleet of fifteen specialized Arc7 icebreaking liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers have transported natural gas from a large LNG plant on Russia’s Yamal peninsula to countries in Asia via the Arctic. Even with the rapid melt of Arctic sea ice, these voyages have typically only been possible between July and November.