“To develop the joint fields and enhance recovery of oil reservoirs as well as secure development targets, we need investment totaling 200 billion dollars,”

North American oil and natural gas drillers will need to cut an additional 30 percent from their capital budgets to balance their spending with the cash coming in their doors even if crude rises to $40 a barrel, according to an analysis by IHS Inc.A group of 44 North American exploration and production companies are planning to spend $78 billion on capital projects this year, down from $101 billion last year.

Crude oil production in March from seven major US shale plays is expected to fall 92,000 b/d to 4.92 million b/d.

French oil company Total SA said Monday that a deep-water natural-gas project west of the Shetland Islands called Laggan Tormore will produce the equivalent of 90,000 barrels of oil a day—almost 6% of the U.K.’s total output.

Chinese imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) declined by 1.1% year-on-year in 2015 for the first time since China began importing LNG in 2006.

Commenting on a statement by Gazprom on February 2 that Austria had imported 76.2% more gas this January than it had in January 2015, the country's dominant supplier OMV said that was because deliveries last year had been low for unspecified "technical reasons." "We are however back to normal levels this year," a spokesperson said. Gazprom said exports to Austria in 2015 were up by 11.5% in 2015 on the year but gave no volumes for either period.

The number of people employed in oil and gas extraction and support activities across the United States has fallen by around 100,000 since October 2014.

The global oil market will rebalance later this year, paving the way for a recovery in crude prices from their lowest level in more than a decade, according to Royal Dutch Shell’s chief executive.

U.S. Rig Count is down 48 rigs from last week to 571, with oil rigs down 31 to 467, and gas rigs down 17 to 104. Canadian Rig Count is up 11 rigs from last week to 242, with oil rigs up 5 to 131, and gas rigs up 6 to 111.

Such a strategy may be economically rational for Gazprom: already-low prices in the European gas market mean it could relatively easily push prices to a level at which it would be unprofitable to ship LNG from the US — and in doing so defend its market share in a region which accounts for the bulk of its profits.