OPEC will need to “step in” amid further declines in oil prices, which are fair at about $70 to $80 a barrel, according to the group’s second-biggest producer.

China wants relations with Vietnam to proceed along a "correct path", a visiting senior Chinese leader said, vowing to improve mutual trust, amid tension between the neighbours over competing claims in the South China Sea.

State-run Vietnam National Petroleum Corp. (Petrolimex) and JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp., a subsidiary of JX Holdings Inc., have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to jointly develop a 10 million-tonnes/year refining and petrochemical complex to be located in Van Phong Economic Zone in Khanh Hoa Province, Vietnam.

Rosneft and Lukoil signed a package of legally binding documents regarding Rosneft’s acquisition of 20% share in the National Oil Consortium LLC (NOC). Due to this deal the share of Rosneft in the charter capital of NOC will increase to 80%, with the remaining 20% owned by Gazprom Neft.

BP Plc is in talks to buy a direct stake in an East Siberian oil producer from OAO Rosneft, the Russian oil producer facing U.S. and European financing bans, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

The Availability and Price of Petroleum and Petroleum Products Produced in Countries Other Than Iran

EIA estimates that members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), excluding Iran, will earn about $700 billion in revenue from net oil exports in 2014, a 14% decrease from 2013 earnings and the lowest earnings for the group since 2010. OPEC earnings declined in 2014 largely for two reasons: decreases in the amount of OPEC oil exports and lower oil prices, with the 2014 average for Brent crude oil projected to be 8% below the average 2013 price.

Saudi Arabia and OPEC would find it “difficult, if not impossible” to give up market share by cutting crude production, the country’s oil minister said.

U.S. oil drillers pulled rigs this week as crude traded below $60 a barrel for the seventh straight day.

Crude prices surged from the lowest closing levels since May 2009 as comments from Saudi Arabia’s oil minister yesterday added to the most volatile market in three years.