Russia’s state-controlled energy giant, Gazprom, has unveiled a fresh design for a major new office building it has been planning for several years in St. Petersburg. The new design, which embellishes the original plan, proposes to use plants to control the building’s temperature.

The Iranian authorities announced yesterday their decision to join the Nabucco pipeline project.
The project is intended to pump 20-30 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually from Central Asia under the Caspian Sea, then through Azerbaijan, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria.

The President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan met on Monday with Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller discussing oil and gas related issues of mutual interest and an oil refinery construction in Armenia, the estimated cost of which is expected to surpass $2 Billion U.S. dollars.

Russia and Ukraine say they have reached a final agreement on natural gas deliveries for the rest of the year.

Russia's state-run natural gas monopoly Gazprom, embroiled in a payment dispute with Ukraine, says Kyiv plans to take gas from a pipeline carrying gas to western Europe.

The government of Ukraine will meet Wednesday to consider options in the face further reductions in natural gas deliveries from Russia. VOA Moscow Correspondent Peter Fedynsky reports that Russia's state-run energy giant, Gazprom, is assuring customers in Europe that their supplies will not be affected.

Russia's giant state-run natural gas monopoly Gazprom is threatening to cut off supplies to Ukraine next week.

Ukraine has signaled it will be content with a Russian natural gas price of $160 per 1,000 cubic meters, a top manager of Russian energy giant Gazprom said on Friday.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko proposed that Russia start to build a second leg of a pipeline delivering natural gas to Europe, and offered free transit for five years.

Russian natural gas giant Gazprom said on Tuesday it had reached a deal with Ukraine on settling the latter's gas debt after a week-long dispute.

Gazprom could reduce natural gas supplies to Ukraine in October if the country fails to settle its $1.3 billion debt, the Russian energy giant said in a press release Tuesday.

Russia's natural gas monopoly Gazprom said Friday it had supplied an extra 35 million cubic meters of gas to Turkey after a blast at a pipeline bringing gas from Iran halted supplies on Sunday.