The International Energy Agency estimates that over $25 trillion of investment will be needed in oil and gas supply alone from 2015 to 2040. So the long-term investment case for oil and gas remains strong, despite the fall in oil prices over the last 18 months. The concern is that prices seen in late 2015 and early 2016 may be too low to spur investment in projects that are needed to ensure long-term supplies. Without sufficient investment, the risk of demand exceeding supply will increase.

At low oil prices, customer choice rather than strategic Russian decision-making would allow Russia to retain over 30% of the roughly 490bn m³/yr European market and threaten US LNG export volumes.

European utility company E.ON made a net loss of €7bn during 2015, it announced March 9, with underlying net income of €1.6bn. This was similar to 2014 but it also took an €8.8bn impairment charge mainly related to its struggling generation assets.

Indian oil demand, meanwhile, grew by 300,000 b/d last year after rising by 100,000-150,000 b/d/year in the previous decade.

Crude oil production in April from the seven major US shale regions is expected to fall 106,000 b/d to 4.87 million b/d, according to the US Energy Information Administration’s latest Drilling Productivity Report (DPR). That includes a 4,000-b/d drop in the Permian to 2.04 million b/d.

U.S. Rig Count is down 13 rigs from last week to 489, with oil rigs down 8 to 392, and gas rigs down 5 to 97. Canadian Rig Count is down 46 rigs from last week to 129, with oil rigs down 33 to 50, and gas rigs down 13 to 79.

The United States is currently a net importer of natural gas, and gross imports represented nearly 10% of total supply in 2015, based on data through November. The United States imported 7.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas, mostly from Canada by pipeline, and exported 4.8 Bcf/d, mostly to Mexico by pipeline. For years, Alaska has exported LNG, mostly to Pacific Rim countries, but these volumes have been small. In addition to the Sabine Pass terminal that was the source of last week's LNG shipment, four other LNG export terminals are currently under construction.

Production drilling has commenced on the first of a total of 35 wells to be drilled during Phase 1 of the Johan Sverdrup field development offshore Norway in the North Sea, operator Statoil ASA reported.

In 2015 we continued to adapt to the tough environment created by the dramatic drop in oil prices. We have seen prices crash before, but this fall has been particularly steep, from over $100 a barrel in mid-2014 to below $30 by January 2016. The work we have done to reshape and strengthen BP after 2010 stood us in good stead to withstand these conditions and last year we took further action to make the business more resilient in the short term. We also continue to invest for long-term growth. Our safety record improved, along with operating reliability, while costs came down and capital discipline was maintained. The current environment has however impacted our financial results, as well as those of our competitors. So, while the oil price is beyond our control, we have performed strongly on the factors that we can control.

Exxon said it expected production in 2020 to be between 4m and 4.2m barrels of oil equivalent per day. That is lower than the projection Exxon set out a year ago, when it expected output would average 4.3m barrels per day in 2017.