The 2015 payment, due next month, is set to surpass the record from 2009, when the Mexican government said it received $5.1 billion after prices plunged with the global financial crisis. The country’s crude has fallen by almost half over the hedging period so far this year. Crude sales historically cover about a third of the government budget.

Rising hydrocarbon production, retail sales and efficient management drove a Y-o-Y increase in adjusted EBITDA* of 9.3% (RUB 312 bln) for 9M 2015. A 0.6% Y-o-Y decline in sales was driven by the global drop in oil prices. Net income attributable to the shareholders of Gazprom Neft fell by 6.2% Y-o-Y to RUB 130.9 bln. The negative impact of foreign exchange rate differences in loan revaluations held back net income growth.

Speaking at an energy conference in Bahrain on Thursday, Ali al-Naimi, said oil companies “need to increase investments in order to guarantee stability of market for the long and short term”.

Canadian producers are struggling to cut the cost of extracting bitumen from the oil sands, and their other wells are failing to match the efficiency gains of U.S. rivals, a Bloomberg Intelligence analysis shows. While output keeps rising in the Permian Basin, the largest U.S. shale play, companies are slowing output from wells in Alberta and have shelved 18 oil- sands projects during the downturn, according to ARC Financial Corp.

International and U.S. upstream oil companies wrote down $38 billion in assets in the third quarter of 2015, the largest for any quarter since at least 2008 for this set of 46 companies. Low oil prices continue to have a significant effect on the value of companies' assets and future prospects as well as on current revenue.

OPEC’s board of governors was unable to agree on the group’s long-term strategy plan and won’t present it to oil ministers when they meet on Dec. 4 in Vienna, two OPEC delegates with knowledge of the matter said.

Saudi Arabia has started shipping crude to traditional Russian markets like Poland and Sweden, but supplies to Europe from the world’s largest exporter won’t increase by enough to reduce prices. In contrast, a surge in Iranian exports after the lifting of sanctions could erode the value of Russian shipments to the region as soon as next year.

Chevron Corp. is planning to lay off up to 1,000 employees working in the neutral zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, as a dispute between those countries has halted all work on oil fields for several months, according to people familiar with the matter.

The process of adjustment in the oil market is rarely a smooth one, but, in central scenario, the market rebalances at $80/bbl in 2020, with further increases in price thereafter.

EIA forecasts that Brent crude oil prices will average $54/b in 2015 and $56/b in 2016. The 2015 forecast price is unchanged from last month's STEO, and the 2016 forecast price is $2/b lower. Forecast West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices average $4/b lower than the Brent price in 2015 and $5/b lower in 2016. The current values of futures and options contracts for February 2016 delivery (Market Prices and Uncertainty Report) suggest the market expects WTI prices to range from $35/b to $66/b (at the 95% confidence interval) in February 2016.