Full Year 2015 Highlights: • Earnings of $16.2 billion decreased 50 percent from $32.5 billion in 2014. • Earnings per share, assuming dilution, decreased 49 percent to $3.85. • Capital and exploration expenditures were $31.1 billion, down 19 percent from 2014. The company anticipates further reductions in 2016, with capital and exploration expenditures of $23.2 billion, a decrease of 25 percent from 2015. • Oil-equivalent production increased 3.2 percent from 2014, with liquids up 11 percent and natural gas down 5.7 percent. • Cash flow from operations and asset sales was $32.7 billion, including proceeds associated with asset sales of $2.4 billion. • The corporation distributed $15.1 billion to shareholders in 2015 through dividends and share purchases to reduce shares outstanding.

Feb. 3, 2016-- National Oilwell Varco, Inc. (NYSE:NOV) today reported fourth quarter 2015 net income of $85 million, or $0.23 per fully diluted share, excluding other items, down from $0.61 in the third quarter of 2015 on a comparable basis. Other items included pre-tax charges of $1,634 million for goodwill and other intangible asset write-downs, $139 million for restructuring and other charges (which included inventory write-downs, severance and facility closure costs, and other costs), and $7 million in FX losses due to a currency devaluation in Argentina. GAAP net loss for the quarter was $1,523 million, or $4.06 per fully diluted share.

Weatherford International plc (NYSE: WFT) reported a net loss before charges of $102 million ($0.13 net loss per share before charges) on revenues of $2.01 billion for the fourth quarter of 2015. GAAP net loss for the fourth quarter of 2015 was $1.21 billion, or a net loss of $1.54 per share. Full year revenue was down $5.5 billion and operating income declined $1.5 billion primarily due to lower activity, pricing weakness and customer budget reductions in oil and gas markets across the world.

The oil and gas shock has been big enough to affect negatively the performance of the whole economy in the short run, even if it promises to have a positive impact in the long term.

BP has taken around $1.5 billion in restructuring charges over the past five quarters; this total is expected to approach $2.5 billion by the end of 2016. BP expects to reduce the number of staff and contractor roles in the Upstream segment by around 4,000 during 2016 and by up to 3,000 from the Downstream by the end of 2017.

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: APC) today announced 2015 fourth-quarter results, reporting a net loss attributable to common stockholders of $1.250 billion, or $2.45 per share (diluted). These results include certain items typically excluded by the investment community in published estimates. In total, these items increased the net loss by $954 million, or $1.88 per share (diluted), on an after-tax basis. Cash flow from operating activities in the fourth quarter of 2015 was $257 million, and discretionary cash flow totaled $810 million.

Oil prices fell by 47 percent in 2015 and are expected to decline, on an annual average, by another 27 percent in 2016. However, from their current lows, a gradual recovery in oil prices is expected over the course of the year, for several reasons. First, the sharp oil price drop in early 2016 does not appear fully warranted by fundamental drivers of oil demand and supply, and is likely to partly reverse. Second, high-cost oil producers are expected to sustain persistent losses and increasingly make production cuts that are likely to outweigh any additional capacity coming to the market. Third, demand is expected to strengthen somewhat with a modest pickup in global growth.

“Everything is possible in theory. It was possible a year ago, a month ago. Nothing new has happened. This frenzy is idiotic. It stems from the fact that people can’t read.”

“Co-ordination between Russia and Opec has been discussed in the past and has always come to nothing, and it would be a shock if any different outcome occurred this time,” says James Henderson at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.

“While we view this outcome as unlikely, a 5% production cut by just Saudi Arabia and Russia would be sufficient to bring the market close to balance,” said Jason Gammel, oil analyst at Jefferies. “A balanced market…would set the stage for oil price recovery.”