"Everybody is trying to get a big stake in India--it is the biggest growing market in Asia," said Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst at London-based consultancy Energy Aspects.

“We remain committed to our strategic investment in Rosneft,” Scott Dean, a company spokesman, said by e-mail, adding that BP complies with all relevant European and U.S. sanctions. “In the low oil-price environment, Rosneft continues to deliver solid operational and financial performance, demonstrating the resilience of its business model.”

The world’s biggest energy user increased inbound shipments to 91.1 million metric tons in the first three months of the year, data from the Beijing-based General Administration of Customs showed on Wednesday. That’s equivalent to about 7.34 million barrels a day, 6 percent higher than the previous quarter and 13 percent up from the same period last year. Imports last month fell about 4 percent from February’s record to 7.71 million barrels a day, the third-highest ever.

“Our goal is to sell LNG,” she said. “We’re happy to help local developers by investing in infrastructure if it helps the market grow.”

Lenders including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co. and Bank of America Corp. are setting aside more money to cover potential loan losses after crude prices fell 61 percent in less than two years.

Gas output from the top seven shale deposits will fall by 1.1 percent to 45.93 billion cubic feet a day from April, the biggest percentage decline since March 2013. The retreat is led by the oil-rich Eagle Ford deposit in Texas and the Niobrara shale in Colorado and neighboring states, where gas is pumped as a byproduct of crude extraction.

В нефтяной отрасли, в прошлом году отмечался прирост добычи нефти и газового конденсата (+1,4 % по сравнению с 2014 г.), был установлен новый национальный рекорд по добыче – 534,1 млн тонн. Благодаря задействованным механизмам льготирования, выросла добыча в Восточной Сибири и на Дальнем Востоке – на 7,8% до 63,5 млн тонн, на континентальном шельфе – на 17,3% до 19 млн тонн, на месторождениях с трудноизвлекаемыми запасами – на 1,2% до 33 млн тонн.

“The oil price is growing. I think everyone is expecting the successful outcome of our work,” Mr Sechin said. “We will need higher price levels than $45 or even $50 a barrel.”

"Now we're seeing reductions in spending on shorter cycle projects, in other words immediate drilling activity," Watson said. "Rig rates in the US are down almost 80%, we're seeing decline in rig rates around the world and we're starting to see the supply response that everyone has expected. So we're seeing the markets come back into better balance [but] it may take more time."

Crude oil production in May from the seven major US shale regions is expected to fall 114,000 b/d month-over-month to 4.84 million b/d, according to the US Energy Information Administration’s latest Drilling Productivity Report (DPR).