It was below minus 30C in the Arctic Circle but the delegations from Saudi Arabia and Russia tossed aside their gloves for a friendly handshake, smiling despite the cold under their fur hats and padded jackets.
Khalid al-Falih, Saudi energy minister, had come to the port in Sabetta in Russia’s far north to open a $27bn liquefied natural gas plant, in the company of his counterpart Alexander Novak and President Vladimir Putin.
