London Brent crude for December delivery LCOc1 was down 29 cents, or 0.6 percent, at $49.42 a barrel by 0750 GMT after settling down 76 cents on Friday. NYMEX crude for December delivery CLc1 was trading down 29 cents, or 0.6 percent, at $48.41 a barrel, after closing down $1.02 on Friday.

Pakistan announced a three year road map to improve its global ranking on doing business earlier this year. Consistent with that, the country completed three reforms in the past year in Registering Property, Getting Credit and Trading Across Borders. The highest number in a single year over the past decade.

Global offshore oil production (including lease condensate and hydrocarbon gas liquids) from deepwater projects reached 9.3 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2015. Deepwater production, or production in water of depths greater than 125 meters, has increased 25% from nearly 7 million b/d a decade ago.

“The rampant cost inflation on Australian projects combined with the collapse in oil prices is damaging for a lot of these projects,” said Neil Beveridge, analyst at Bernstein. LNG prices have been affected by a supply glut and are also linked to oil prices in Asia.

Total once again reported solid quarterly results with adjusted net income of $2.1 billion and operating cash flow before working capital changes of $4.5 billion. The Group increased cash flow by 13% compared to the second quarter 2016 despite a 27% reduction in European refining margins and flat Brent prices.

U.S. Rig Count is down 218 rigs from last year's count of 775, with oil rigs down 137, gas rigs down 83, and miscellaneous rigs up 2. Canadian Rig Count is down 38 rigs from last year's count of 191, with oil rigs down 11, gas rigs down 28, and miscellaneous rigs up 1.

Brent crude LCOc1 was up 22 cents at $50.20 a barrel as of 0845 GMT (4:45 a.m. ET), after falling in the last three days. U.S. crude gained 10 cents to $49.28.

The North American market has continued to "grind slowly upwards" as the rig count, particularly in the US, ticks ahead from troughs seen six months ago, Martin Craighead said during a quarterly conference call with analysts. But "customers need to be more confident of the durability of those prices before making any significant change to their spending patterns," Craighead said.

The worsening OPEC equation presents Saudi Arabia with a difficult choice after its Algiers U-turn: carry a greater burden within the group, ceding market share to other producers, or lose credibility by softening the terms of the deal. In a worst-case scenario, Saudi Arabia will have to cut production by more than 1 million barrels a day, sending the kingdom’s output to a two-year low.

ConocoPhillips’ nine-month 2016 earnings were a net loss of $3.6 billion, or ($2.88) per share, compared with a nine-month 2015 net loss of $1.0 billion, or ($0.80) per share. Nine-month 2016 adjusted earnings were a net loss of $3.0 billion, or ($2.40) per share, compared with a nine-month 2015 adjusted net loss of $0.6 billion, or ($0.50) per share.

Revenues for the third quarter of 2016 were $1.65 billion, a decrease of five percent compared to the second quarter of 2016 and a decrease of 50 percent from the third quarter of 2015. Operating loss for the third quarter was $1.19 billion, or 72.1 percent of sales. Excluding other items, operating loss was $108 million, or 6.6 percent of sales. Adjusted EBITDA (operating profit excluding other items before depreciation and amortization) for the third quarter was $68 million, or 4.1 percent of sales, an increase of $43 million from the second quarter of 2016.

Net operating income was USD 737 million in the third quarter compared to USD 883 million in the same period of 2015. The reduction was primarily due to lower oil and gas prices, expensed exploration wells and lower refinery margins. Continued progress on the improvement programme with reduced costs and strong operational performance contributing positively to the results.

Nabors Industries Ltd. ("Nabors") (NYSE: NBR) today reported third-quarter 2016 operating revenues of $519.7 million, compared to operating revenues of $571.6 million in the second quarter of 2016. Net income from continuing operations, attributable to Nabors, for the current quarter was a loss of $99.0 million, or $0.35 per diluted share, compared to a loss of $183.7 million, or $0.65 per diluted share, last quarter.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 were down 51 cents, or 1 percent, at $50.28 a barrel as of 0648 GMT. Prices hit $50.13 earlier in the session, the lowest since Oct. 3. U.S. crude CLc1 was at $49.37 per barrel, down 59 cents, or 1.2 percent, from its settlement on Tuesday. It dropped to $49.21 earlier, the lowest since Oct. 10.

Big companies responded with big cuts. BP, Eni and their peers cut exploration spending by 35% in 2015 compared with 2013, Wood Mackenzie’s data show. Many projects now focus on lower-risk, lower-reward prospects as companies hope for incremental gains near existing infrastructure that they can bring online quickly and cheaply.