October 2015

Services firm Weatherford International said Wednesday that it will cut 3,000 more jobs by the end of the year and close more facilities.

In our view, Rosneft alone can offer European partners to participate in the projects for the amount of about $100 bln., the Head of Rosneft said. «The scale of Rosneft investment program assumes one of the world's largest anchor orders for engineering industry and chemical industry products, in the first place – about 4.6 bln. euro annually, pointed out Igor Sechin. – Аnd Rosneft aggregate demand for materials in 2016-2018 will amount to € 15.9 bln.».

Sending gas to Europe doesn’t make commercial sense for Iran, says Matthew Bryza, former US assistant secretary for South Caucasus and former US ambassador to Azerbaijan.

BP and China Huadian Corporation (Huadian) today signed a sale and purchase agreement for BP to sell Huadian up to 1 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year worth up to $10 billion over the next 20 years.

PJSC LUKOIL press office announces the completion of drilling of the exploratory well Lira-1X and the discovery of a gas field in the Lira offshore structure, which is located at the Trident block (EX-30) in the deep-sea Romanian offshore. Exploration on the EX-30 block is conducted by LUKOIL Overseas Atash BV (100-% subsidiary of PJSC LUKOIL) within the framework of the Concession Agreement with the Government of Romania of 2011. Currently LUKOIL's share in the project is 72%, while PanAtlantic Petroleum Ltd owns 18% and Societatea Nationale de Gaze Naturale Romgaz SA owns 10%.

In an expansion of their ongoing global partnership, BP and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) entered into a framework agreement on strategic cooperation covering potential shale gas exploration and production in the Sichuan Basin and future fuel retailing ventures in China and other international partnerships.

Third Quarter 2015 Highlights: - Net debt decreased by $28 million and positive free cash flow from operations was $123 million; - Operating income increased 3% and by 47 basis points sequentially, driven mostly by improvements in North America where revenue increased by 2% and operating margins increased 493 basis points with the modest recovery from spring break up in Canada and continued cost reduction measures; - Best-in-class sequential incrementals of 2% and year-on-year decrementals of 29%; - Completed the previous reduction in force target of 11,000 employees by September 30, 2015, with realized annualized savings of $803 million; and - Repurchased $236 million of long-term debt through open market transactions generating a gain of $35 million.

Revenue for the quarter was $3.8 billion, down 39% compared to the third quarter of 2014. Compared to the prior quarter, revenue declined $182 million or 5%. On a GAAP basis, net loss attributable to Baker Hughes for the third quarter was $159 million or $0.36 per diluted share. Adjusted EBITDA (a non-GAAP measure) for the third quarter of 2015 was $522 million, an increase of $63 million or 14% sequentially, and a decrease of $666 million or 56% compared to the third quarter of 2014.

The plan appears to be working. Oil remains 33 percent lower than when OPEC revealed its strategy on Nov. 27, trading for $48.38 a barrel at 10:13 a.m. in London Wednesday. U.S. crude production has retreated about 500,000 barrels a day from the three-decade peak reached in June to 9.1 million a day in the week to Oct. 9, according to data from the Energy Information Administration.

Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan all have safety cushions of income from oil and gas to help in the hard times of benchmark Brent crude under $50 a barrel.