Russia is against an increase in global crude production, rather than favouring a reduction, and remains pessimistic about the possibility of Moscow and Riyadh reaching a production coordination deal, Russia's energy minister Alexander Novak said Thursday. "We are in favor of, not a cut, but of countries not increasing their output, so that demand, which is growing year-by-year, is covered by the oversupply that exists in the market," Novak said.

Statoil and Repsol announce transactions in Norway, UK, US and Brazil

Halliburton and Baker Hughes, which do the physical work of drilling wells and extracting oil and natural gas for energy companies, trail only Schlumberger Ltd. in the marketplace.

The agreement will involve the development of five trillion cubic feet of gas resources, as well as 55 million barrels of condensates. Production from WND is expected to be around 1.2 billion cubic feet a day (bcf/d) and all the produced gas will be fed into Egypt's national gas grid.

“This compares to $2.3 billion in 2015, so a nearly 60% cut. This is one of the steepest 2016 spending cuts we’ve seen across oil and gas producers.”

Canada’s oil and gas companies have eliminated at least 40,000 jobs this year, the industry’s lobby group estimates, while companies have curtailed spending. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., the nation’s largest heavy oil producer, will rely on cash flow to cover its capital spending next year after eliminating C$3.2 billion ($2.4 billion) from its 2015 budget. Blackpearl Resources Inc., a small operator, will spend only C$15 million next year, a fraction of the C$235 million the company spent in 2014.

Output from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries rose by 230,100 barrels a day in November to 31.695 million a day, the highest since April 2012, as surging Iraqi volumes more than offset a slight pullback in Saudi Arabia. The organization is pumping about 900,000 barrels a day more than it anticipates will be needed next year.

Non-OPEC crude oil and other liquids production grows by 1.2 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2015, and then declines by 0.4 million b/d in 2016, which would be the first annual decline in non-OPEC production since 2008.

LNG to northeast Asia, home to the world’s biggest consumers, plunged 27% this year, outpacing Brent’s 23% slump as of Wednesday. While analyst estimates show that crude will recover in 2016, prices for the super-chilled fuel will probably extend declines by as much as 23%.

Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as Petrobras is formally known, is targeting $15.1 billion in disposals by the end of next year but has struggled to sell assets in less attractive prospects off Brazil and in the Gulf of Mexico.