China’s investment is transforming its smaller Southeast Asian neighbors like never before while helping turn Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar into bigger destinations for its exports.

India is expected to see investment to the tune of $20bn in next five to seven years in development of gas fields, country’s oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said at an event in New Delhi.

Oil companies around the world have together added $630 billion to their market value this year, the biggest gain in six years following a 30 percent rise in benchmark Brent crude. This follows a $1.2 trillion loss in value last year and $790 billion in 2014 as crude prices plunged.

“Security and access to funding are the biggest challenges right now to private sector players,” says Kola Karim, managing director of domestic producer Shoreline Energy. “The situation is really tough.”

Managing Director of Pergas Consortium Colin Rowley says his consortium is ready to invest in Iranian petroleum industry, train workforce and transfer technology.

Iranian oil and gas sectors are very much attractive to foreign investors because of low cast of production, a senior expert said on Monday.

A senior official at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) said on Friday that the country has signed three memoranda of understanding (MoU's) with three leading Russian oil companies for bilateral cooperation.

Japan sees the current low oil price environment creating "a significant chance for acquiring [upstream] stakes and assets," as well as the need to facilitate upstream investments amid slowing investments globally, Yuki Sadamitsu, director of the oil and gas division at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said in an interview with S&P Global Platts last month.

ConocoPhillips has set its 2017 capital expenditures guidance at $5 billion, down 4% compared with its 2016 guidance of $5.2 billion and less than half of its 2015 capex and investments that totaled $10.1 billion. The firm recently cut its 2016 capex from $5.5 million.

Total investment in oil and natural gas extraction in Norway was 21% lower in the first half of 2016 compared with the first half of 2015, a decline of about 20.9 billion Norwegian kroner (US $3.5 billion). However, investment cuts have affected some segments of the industry more than others.