The US drilling rig count dropped 7 units to 737 during the week ended Dec. 4, marking its lowest point since Oct. 15, 1999.

U.S. oilfield equipment maker National Oilwell Varco Inc will cut its Norwegian workforce by another 900 people after low oil prices resulted in fewer orders, the company said on Monday.

The January contract for light, sweet crude settled below $40/bbl on the New York market Dec. 4 after members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries acknowledged they would accommodate current production, which is more than 1 million b/d over the quota.

Having reviewed the oil market outlook for 2015, and the projections for 2016, the Conference observed that global economic growth is currently at 3.1% in 2015 and is forecast to expand by 3.4% next year. In terms of supply and demand, it was noted that non-OPEC supply is expected to contract in 2016, while global demand is anticipated to expand again by 1.3 mb/d.

The ability of the US with its newly found export capacity mostly based on shale gas development provides gas into the global market, he explained, for which the European market can benefit as long as the prices in Europe are attractive to a US producer.

“We're interested in seeing more interconnected markets in Europe. We obviously can deliver very flexibly to any terminal; we're not bound into delivering to just one location, as you would be with a pipeline, and what we're really interested in doing is securing new markets, developing integrated projects possibly involving power plants as well, or floating re-gas infrastructure with a power plant behind it, a business model we've operated in Chile; we're looking at doing something similar in Croatia,”

Low oil prices have hurt manufacturers that supply and service the sector

U.S. Rig Count is down 7 rigs from last week to 737, with oil rigs down 10 to 545, and gas rigs up 3 to 192.

Александр Новак обратил внимание на существенное увеличение объема экспорта российской нефти в Китай: за 11 месяцев 2015 года рост поставок этого вида сырья в Китай составил 15% по сравнению с аналогичным периодом 2014 года. Всего с января по ноябрь текущего года из России в КНР экспортировано более 24 млн. тонн нефти.

China will add 70-90 million barrels of crude to storage tanks in 2016 to build up its strategic petroleum reserves (SPR).