Foreign ministers in Lausanne, Switzerland on Iran’s nuclear programme have said they are inching towards a joint statement, which would be accompanied by a set of agreed parameters that would be kept secret, according to European diplomats.

The EU and Iran are expected to issue a joint statement on the talks at 6pm GMT on Thursday, though it is not known precisely what details will be released. After an all-night negotiating session, the ministers continued to make slow progress towards a consensus, but diplomats said there were still a small number of issues to be resolved before a joint statement could be made.” [The Guardian]

The Ukrainian government has signed a deal securing cheaper supplies of gas from Russia for the next three months, providing a respite for both sides in their protracted wrangle over pricing.”Previous gas disputes between Ukraine and Russia have affected the European Union, where Gazprom covers a third of gas demand. Around 40 percent of that gas travels via Ukraine.

The lower agreed price for Russian gas at the start of the off-season in Ukraine, when consumption is much reduced because of warmer weather, had been heavily flagged by Moscow and came as no surprise for Ukrainian energy officials who saw it as reflecting lower global oil prices.” [Reuters]

BlackGold Capital Management, the energy hedge fund partially owned by KKR & Co., told investors that losses amid the oil slump last December were almost triple its initial report after examining how it valued debt holdings, according to sources within the company.”The $2 billion investment firm revised the loss to 17 percent last month from the 6 percent decline it previously reported, according to the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private.

The Houston-based fund cited difficulty in valuing some energy bonds at the height of the market’s turmoil, they said.” [Bloomberg Business]