Russia's state-controlled gas monopoly will not cut gas supplies to its former Soviet neighbor Belarus after Minsk paid a "significant part" of a US$456 million gas debt before a Friday morning deadline, the national gas monopoly said.
A powerful explosion hit a gas pipeline in northwest Russia early on Thursday but officials said it was not caused by terrorism and exports were unaffected.
U.S. market regulators charged failed hedge fund Amaranth Advisors and its former head trader, Brian Hunter, with trying to manipulate natural gas futures prices.