Despite the rules agreed by the European Commission, one of Germany's largest natural gas importers, VNG, has opened an account with Gazprombank for payments for Russian gas under Moscow's new terms, in Euros then converted into Rubles helping the Russian currency to recover its value.
Brazil will hold an offshore oil deposit auction in October featuring blocks that were the object of a long-running dispute with state energy giant Petrobras. Reuters reports, citing Economy Minister Paulo Guedes, that participants in the auction will need to cough up a signing bonus of a total US$26.9 billion for the four blocks.