Changing global natural gas markets may compel Russia’s state gas company Gazprom to dramatically change, two Washington observers suggested, but the changes won’t be easy, and will take time, they said during a seminar at the Atlantic Council.

Energy prices generally were up Mar. 25 with front-month crude up 1.2% in the New York market after European leaders reached a bailout agreement with Cyprus, but other economic indicators remain mixed.

Crude prices were up Mar. 22 in mixed markets, but US natural gas prices in New York were down prior to a last-minute decision Mar. 25 in Cyprus to tap bank deposits that exceed the €100,000 insured level in order to secure a €10 billion bailout of its economy.

US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Ronald L. Wyden (D-Ore.) asked the Environmental Protection Agency for data to explain unprecedented volatility in the market for Renewable Identification Numbers (RIN). RINs are designed to help refiners meet alternative fuel volume requirements under the federal Renewable Fuels Standard.

Energy prices generally were down in mixed markets Mar. 21 with crude losing 0.6%. in New York while the United Nations’ International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank, the European Union, and Russia “squabbled” over the possible economy bailout for Cyprus.

Efforts to boost the use of natural gas in the US should begin with the industry producing the fuel, according an executive of a large independent gas producer.

US Sens. Mary L. Landrieu (D-La.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alas.) said they will introduce an expanded version of federal energy revenue sharing legislation they have offered previously.

Oil prices rebounded Mar. 20 with front-month crude up 1% in the New York futures market as a bullish inventory report and no change in the Federal Reserve’s economic stimulus program apparently overwhelmed concerns of economic woes in Cyprus.

The front-month crude contract fell 1.8% Mar. 19 in the New York futures market as the Cyprus government’s rejected an unpopular proposal for a 10% tax on individual bank deposits above €20,000 to bail out its economy.

US monthly crude oil production is expected to exceed the amount of crude oil imports later in 2013 for the first time since February 1995, the Energy Information Administration projected.

The Obama administration will need to open more onshore and offshore federal acreage to oil and gas development if it expects a proposed energy security research trust fund to work, experts agreed during a discussion of the concept Securing America’s Future Energy originally offered as part of its proposed national energy security strategy on Dec. 3, 2012.

A broadening of the LNG supply base will support anticipated demand growth in the next 10-20 years, although pricing scenarios are likely to change with more price-sensitive buyers becoming less willing to pay supply security premiums, according to a recent report by Ernst & Young.

The front-month crude contract recovered from earlier intraday losses to finish up 0.3% in the New York futures market in the trading turmoil following the Cypriot government’s decision to seize 10% of depositors’ bank savings in a bailout of its sovereign debt.

Existing federal regulations, many of which mandate specific fuels and restrict refining capacity additions, make continued US gasoline price volatility very likely, a Mar. 15 report from Energy Policy Research Foundation Inc. (EPRINC) suggested.