Indonesia's 2015 revenue target is "really unrealistic" and there will be a large budget shortfall that could force the government to cut spending, a World Bank economist said on Wednesday.

Iran has launched the main phase of the offshore South Pars gas field. President Hassan Rouhani, who attended the ceremony for the Phase 12, said that it is the country’s biggest gas industry project.

Talisman Energy Inc., the Canadian energy firm being taken over by Spain’s Respol SA, has joined an expanding list of oil-and-gas producers who are cutting jobs and shaving capital budgets as oil prices continue to slump.

Norwegian energy firm Statoil has made a gas discovery near the Aasta Hansteen field in the northern part of the Norwegian Sea, the company said on Tuesday.

U.S. oil and gas major ExxonMobil has asked the Russian government to reimburse taxes worth "several billion roubles" it says it overpaid on a project in the far east of Russia.

Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman’s investment fund said Wednesday it sent a “detailed response” to U.K. government objections to its deal to take over offshore natural-gas fields amid a period of icy relations between Moscow and the West.

As most of Russia’s energy exports go to the European Union, both players are strongly interdependent. For Russia, energy resources, especially gas, are viewed as a tool to project power beyond its borders.

UK oil and gas companies expect to create thousands of jobs over the next two years despite the dramatic slide in oil prices.

Not long ago, oil looked like a black gold mine for General Electric. The company known for toaster ovens and lightbulbs wrapped up a three-year, $10 billion buying spree in 2013 to bolster the growing oil and gas equipment unit that helped GE recover from the financial crisis. The company bulked up with the expectation that crude prices would remain at about $100 a barrel for years.

Ukraine is facing existential challenges, and energy security is one of them. The country is dependent on Russia supplying most of its natural gas as well as uranium fuel for its nuclear reactors. Under these very difficult circumstances, a government with a holistic view of its strategic security and energy goals would logically develop a policy aimed at encouraging increased domestic oil and gas production. Unfortunately, Kyiv is doing the opposite.