MOSCOW, October 11. /TASS/. Refocusing of Russian energy companies to Asian markets is driven by market trends and not by geopolitical intrigues, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the plenary session of the Russian Energy Week.

"Russian oil and gas companies are also shifting supplies from the Atlantic market to the Asian one and these are not some opportunistic decisions but a natural process determined by long-term market trends and not by geopolitical intrigues," the head of state said.

"I have just mentioned ‘the trend of growth in different regions of the world,’ we are focusing on it. [We] have to respond to geopolitical challenges but [consider] these objective trends in the first instance. According to expert estimates, natural gas demand will grow within the period by 2050 in all regions of the world, except North America and Europe. The share of Europe will decline almost twofold as part of the global demand, to 5%. On the contrary, the share of Asia will grow by one and a half times, from 21% to 30%," the Russian leader added.