The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that oil services company Weatherford International has agreed to pay a $140 million penalty to settle charges that it inflated earnings by using deceptive income tax accounting. Two of the company’s senior accounting executives at the time have agreed to settle charges that they were behind the scheme.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude had fallen 38 cents to $45.55 a barrel by 0103 GMT, after rising $1.45, or 3.3 percent, in the previous session. Brent crude futures slipped 43 cents to $46.91 a barrel after closing up $1.46, or 3.2 percent.

Speaking to Shana while departing Tehran for Algiers to attend the International Energy Forum (IEF) to be held Tuesday and Wednesday in Algiers, Zangeneh said the current market conditions are not favorable for crude oil producers and consumers in the mid- and long terms.

"Saudi Aramco is forecast to spend around $334 billion. This will be spent on material and services to support service facilities, infrastructure projects, drilling and maintain (oil) potential projects, unconventional resources both in the exploration phase and development and several other projects,"

Top Russian producer Rosneft expects the share of hard-to-recover oil production to rise to 11 percent of its total crude output by 2020, from 7 percent this year. Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of state gas producer Gazprom, is raising its share of output of hard-to-recover oil by tapping more reserves at the Messoyakha project and other assets.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 rose 73 cents to $46.62 a barrel by 1052 GMT, having rallied from a session low of $45.74, while U.S. crude prices CLc1 rose 54 cents to $45.02 a barrel.

“While the oil market has recovered from its most severe period, it’s still weak,” Nasser said.

“The kingdom is looking for consensus among oil producers to reach a credible arrangement for stabilising oil markets,” a Saudi official said on Friday. “We are looking at different scenarios and options to reaching this goal.”

Russia's oil taxes are already among the highest in the world.

“We expect global spending in the oil and gas sector will reach its nadir in 2016 , returning to growth in 2017,” Christopher Haines, BMI’s head of oil and gas research, said in the report. “For now, we see stronger growth in capital expenditure in 2018 , as better forecast oil prices are building confidence behind spending outlooks.”