PJSC LUKOIL press office announces the completion of drilling of the exploratory well Lira-1X and the discovery of a gas field in the Lira offshore structure, which is located at the Trident block (EX-30) in the deep-sea Romanian offshore. Exploration on the EX-30 block is conducted by LUKOIL Overseas Atash BV (100-% subsidiary of PJSC LUKOIL) within the framework of the Concession Agreement with the Government of Romania of 2011. Currently LUKOIL's share in the project is 72%, while PanAtlantic Petroleum Ltd owns 18% and Societatea Nationale de Gaze Naturale Romgaz SA owns 10%.

In an expansion of their ongoing global partnership, BP and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) entered into a framework agreement on strategic cooperation covering potential shale gas exploration and production in the Sichuan Basin and future fuel retailing ventures in China and other international partnerships.

Third Quarter 2015 Highlights: - Net debt decreased by $28 million and positive free cash flow from operations was $123 million; - Operating income increased 3% and by 47 basis points sequentially, driven mostly by improvements in North America where revenue increased by 2% and operating margins increased 493 basis points with the modest recovery from spring break up in Canada and continued cost reduction measures; - Best-in-class sequential incrementals of 2% and year-on-year decrementals of 29%; - Completed the previous reduction in force target of 11,000 employees by September 30, 2015, with realized annualized savings of $803 million; and - Repurchased $236 million of long-term debt through open market transactions generating a gain of $35 million.

Revenue for the quarter was $3.8 billion, down 39% compared to the third quarter of 2014. Compared to the prior quarter, revenue declined $182 million or 5%. On a GAAP basis, net loss attributable to Baker Hughes for the third quarter was $159 million or $0.36 per diluted share. Adjusted EBITDA (a non-GAAP measure) for the third quarter of 2015 was $522 million, an increase of $63 million or 14% sequentially, and a decrease of $666 million or 56% compared to the third quarter of 2014.

The plan appears to be working. Oil remains 33 percent lower than when OPEC revealed its strategy on Nov. 27, trading for $48.38 a barrel at 10:13 a.m. in London Wednesday. U.S. crude production has retreated about 500,000 barrels a day from the three-decade peak reached in June to 9.1 million a day in the week to Oct. 9, according to data from the Energy Information Administration.

Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan all have safety cushions of income from oil and gas to help in the hard times of benchmark Brent crude under $50 a barrel.

Russia supplied a record amount of crude oil to China in September, surpassing Saudi Arabia for the second time as the top seller to the Asian giant, customs data showed, boosted by demand from independent refiners.

Gazprom goes on developing LNG sales from its portfolio. Over the first 6 months of 2015 it sold 22 LNG cargoes with the total volume exceeding 1.5 million tons, thus showing a 17 per cent increase as compared to the same period of the previous year. This is equivalent to the total LNG sales in 2013.

The API Director of Upstream Erik Milito released the following statement regarding the Obama administration’s decision to deny Arctic offshore development extension requests and scheduled 2016 and 2017 Arctic lease sales

Saudi Arabia's crude oil exports fell by 278,000 barrels per day in August, despite historically high wellhead production, while volumes of shipped refined oil products rose to a record high, official data showed on Sunday.