International and U.S. upstream oil companies wrote down $38 billion in assets in the third quarter of 2015, the largest for any quarter since at least 2008 for this set of 46 companies. Low oil prices continue to have a significant effect on the value of companies' assets and future prospects as well as on current revenue.

Statoil ASA announced that it will vacate leases it holds in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska and close its office in Anchorage because they are no longer competitive. Its Nov. 17 action came after Shell Offshore Co. made a similar move with its Alaska federal offshore leases for the same reason.

OPEC’s board of governors was unable to agree on the group’s long-term strategy plan and won’t present it to oil ministers when they meet on Dec. 4 in Vienna, two OPEC delegates with knowledge of the matter said.

“The drop in prices won’t be a concern for us,” Zanganeh said. “It should be a concern for those who have replaced Iran.” Iran doesn’t expect difficulties selling the additional barrels, and “the market has taken into account our return,” he said.

Credit crunch was expected to hit many independent U.S. oil producers, starving the industry of billions of dollars and further denting company budgets and drilling plans.

Iran said in September it had approved a draft of international oil and gas contracts to attract foreign investors and oil buyers once international sanctions are lifted but has not provided details so far.

Tehran has recently strengthened ties with Moscow, which is considering providing two loans worth a total of $7 billion to Iran.

U.S. Rig Count is down 4 rigs from last week to 767, with oil rigs up 2 to 574, and gas rigs down 6 to 193. U.S. Rig Count is down 1,161 rigs from last year at 1,928, with oil rigs down 1,004, and gas rigs down 157. The U.S. Offshore rig count is 33, up 1 rig from last week, and down 19 rigs year over year.

The cost to hire a supertanker - each capable of carrying 2 million barrels of oil - recently hit its highest level since 2008 at over $100,000 a day last month and currently remains at over $70,000 a day.

Tankers carrying nearly 20 million barrels of Iraqi oil are due to sail to the United States in November, almost 40 percent above the amount booked to arrive in October. At an average rate of more than 660,000 barrels per day (bpd), it would be the largest monthly import since mid-2012, according to U.S. data.