The impact of weaker prices is being compounded by lower profits from refining, a business that has been bailing out oil majors over the past couple of years. Global refining margins dropped to $10.50 a barrel in the first quarter, 31 percent lower than a year earlier and 20 percent lower than the preceding quarter.

Kazakhstan's KazMunaiGaz, which owns the largest stake in the project, has said previously that the field would relaunch by the end of 2016.

Since November 2014, when the oil bust started to take hold of the energy industry, Schlumberger has cut 36,000 jobs, or 28% of its workforce.

The company revenue in the first quarter fell to $4.2 billion, a 40 per cent decline from the first quarter of 2015. That’s in line with the average analyst estimate of $4.2 billion.

U.S. Rig Count is down 9 rigs from last week to 431, with oil rigs down 8 to 343, and gas rigs down 1 to 88. Canadian Rig Count remains unchanged at 40, with oil rigs up 2 to 12, and gas rigs down 3 to 27.

The sharp decline in oil prices since the fourth quarter of 2014 has had a significant effect on drilling in the United States. The number of active onshore drilling rigs in the Lower 48 states fell 78% (from 1,876 to 412) between the weeks ending on October 31, 2014, and April 15, 2016, according to data from BakerHughes. The decline in active rigs and well completions is projected to result in month-over-month onshore oil production declines of 120,000 b/d through September 2016.

A high debt-to-equity ratio can present challenges in the face of falling revenue, which most U.S. oil producers experienced in 2015 because of lower oil prices. A company agrees to the terms of a bank loan or bond issuance to fund projects with the expectation that its activities will generate sufficient revenue to service the debt and eventually repay it. Debt on the balance sheet implies future cash outflows. The need to service large amounts of debt as revenues declined made companies with high debt-to-equity ratios more vulnerable to losses than companies with less leverage in their capital structures.

During this year’s first 3 months, 39 announced oil and gas deals took place accounting for a total $28 billion vs. 39 deals worth $34.4 billion in first-quarter 2015. Total deal value was down 19%.

The Kandym Gas Processing Complex will include construction of a gas treatment plant capable of processing 8.1 billion cubic meters of gas per year, as well as a natural gas gathering system, which, at its peak, will comprise 114 producing wells, 11 well pads and 4 gathering stations. 370 km of gas pipelines will be installed and 160 km of motorways will be built. Around 7,000 people will be involved in the construction of the complex and infrastructure facilities.

The steep decline in oil prices over 2015 and the “new reality” of low prices for a longer period of time have led to the deferral of many high-cost projects. Based on research of public data and news releases, Deloitte Marketpoint estimates that non-OPEC cancellations and postponements include 1.3 million b/d of production over the next 5 years.