At the beginning of this week, U.S. gas prices have sharply increased by 9% from their 19-month low. The rise was driven by two factors. The first one is a request from Freeport LNG to restart its operation. The second one is the weather forecast of a more severe cold snap than expected.

Members of the Republican Party in the U.S. House of Representatives are to vote on a new bill that would prohibit the sale of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) without increasing drilling on federal lands.

Limiting gas prices in the European Union could lead to reduced market liquidity and increased volatility.

According to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA’s) weekly report, the U.S. has stopped selling oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). As of January 13, the SPR crude balance remained the same as a week earlier. It was 371.6 million barrels.

U.S. energy head Jennifer Granholm states that the limitation of presidential authorities to utilize the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) will threaten national security and will provoke the price growth and deficit of oil.

The new head of Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA has decided to suspend most export contracts in order to review them. According to him, this decision will help to avoid payment defaults.

76 companies have applied 115 applications to the U.K. to lease seabed areas in the North Sea to find oil and gas resources.

From February 5, the G7 and European Union will impose a cap on Russian petrochemicals. The import of Russian fuel will also be restricted.

On Thursday, a new bill to prohibit exporting oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.

It is reported that TC Energy managed to restart the Keystone oil pipeline three weeks after its shutdown.