2. China, Russia sign 30-year natural gas deal

In the presence of Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, China National Petroleum Corp and Russia's top gas exporter Gazprom OAO completed an historic 30-year natural gas contract on May 21. The deal, which had been in the works for around two decades, was finally sealed with a value of $400 billion, securing the world's largest energy user with a stable source of cleaner fuel.

The contract means Russia will export 38 billion cubic meters of natural gas to China every year, starting in 2018, for 30 years. The gas will be pumped via a new eastern pipeline to be jointly built by CNPC and Gazprom as per the agreement.