April 2015

Total said it may take advantage of the slump in crude to make acquisitions that build on the strengths of Europe’s third-biggest oil company in deepwater offshore fields and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The European Commission gave Gazprom 12 weeks to answer its Statement of Objections (SO) for alleged abuse of dominant market position in Central and Eastern European gas markets. The widely-anticipated decision triggered the enthusiasm of Ukrainian officials, raised some doubts among Russian experts and encountered strong opposition from Gazprom.

In the latest report on Croatia, the European Commission has warned that Croatian Law on the gas market does not encourage competition, and that such a situation could jeopardize further integration into the European energy market, as well as projects such as the LNG terminal on the island of Krk.

Heavily dependent on Russia for its energy needs, European trade negotiators are looking for a visible anchor to US energy supplies, writes Douglas Hengel of The German Marshall Fund of the United States.

The sixth meeting of the World Forum on Energy Regulation is scheduled to be held on May 25–28, in Istanbul, and is being organized by the office of the prime minister of the Turkish Republic. The competitive and dynamically expanding nature of the energy sector in Eurasia has been boosting Turkey’s regional importance as it prepares to take on the role of a strategically important transit and energy hub country

Iran’s natural gas production has reached 660 million cubic meters per day (mcm/d) and the country is expected to increase this volume to 760 mcm/d by next spring.

ConocoPhillips, the third-largest U.S. oil producer, is exploring the sale of some its North Sea assets in Norway as it seeks to divest overseas operations, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

Weatherford International raised its layoff target to 10,000 positions on Thursday after booking an over 50 percent income drop in the first quarter.

Global oil demand is set to rise by 1 million or even 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2015, according to a range of forecasters.

While the U.S. rig count keeps falling, weak oil prices won’t stop the United States from becoming a net energy exporter in the coming decades, the Energy Information Administration’s 2015 annual energy outlook said.