Spanish oil major Repsol said on Wednesday its net profit could fall by up to 22 percent in 2015, hit by low crude prices and a loss of value of some of its North-American assets which will trigger a big impairment charge in the third quarter.

"...in Europe investment signals are unclear. As a result of EU policy and lack of an expressed role of gas in these policies, there is an additional political risk concerning future European gas demand," Norway's Oil and Energy Ministry said in its reply to the European Commission, as a part of wider consultations on the EU's strategy on LNG and gas storage.

Nord Stream II would consist of two lines, doubling the 55-bcm annual capacity of the Nord Stream offshore pipeline which already runs from Vyborg near Russia's border with Finland to Greifswald in Germany.

Britain has told Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman he was still welcome to invest in the country even after he was forced to divest gas assets there under pressure from the previous government.

Swiss chemicals giant Ineos has bought its first British North Sea gas fields from Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman's investment fund LetterOne, outlining plans to further expand its energy resources to supports its petrochemical business.

Rosneft, as part of a PetroMiranda JV including PDVSA and Gazprom Neft, has drilled an unprecedented horizontal well GG1-14 at the Junin-6 block. The well is unique for the shallow depth, only 1,140 feet or about 347 meters, of the reservoir interval and the length of horizontal section 4,920 feet or 1,500 meters. The total length of the well is 6,059 feet (some 1,847 meters).

In the third quarter 2015, NOVATEK’s marketable production totaled 17.06 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas and 2,346 thousand tons of liquids (gas condensate and crude oil), resulting in an increase in natural gas production by 1.86 bcm, or by 12.2%, and an increase in combined liquids production by 813 thousand tons, or by 53.0% as compared with the third quarter 2014.

Eurasia Drilling’s top shareholders and management have proposed taking the oil services company private, after Schlumberger walked away from making a $1.7bn investment following resistance from Russian regulators.

Russian energy giant OAO Gazprom became the latest emerging-market borrower to sell debt to international investors, taking advantage of growing expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will delay raising interest rates.

BP reached a $20.8 billion civil settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice and five Gulf states on Monday to resolve civil claims tied to the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon accident.

Eurasia Drilling Co., the Russian oil driller whose planned acquisition by Schlumberger Ltd. collapsed last month, said it received a buyout offer from management and shareholders.

Shell is planning for a longer period of low oil prices. But in the longer term, argues Ben van Beurden, there will be no change to fundamental drivers such as rising demand and the need for new supplies. Moreover, the industry should not be blinded by low oil prices. Even more than prices, the transition to a low-carbon energy future will shape its destiny over the coming decades. Carbon pricing systems are crucial in that transition. They encourage the quickest and most efficient ways of reducing emissions widely.

Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman’s LetterOne Group is in advanced talks to buy stakes in big oil and gasfields in the Norwegian North Sea owned by Germany’s Eon, in a $1bn-plus deal.

Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) reported further cuts to its capital budget, reducing planned spending for 2015 by $3 billion to $25 billion and by $8 billion to $19 billion for 2016. The company cited low crude oil prices and unfavorable exchange rates.

Gazprom has also received 50 per cent in Wintershall Noordzee B.V., which is involved in hydrocarbon exploration and production in the North Sea. In turn, Wintershall has obtained 25.01 per cent in the project for developing blocks 4A and 5A in the Achimov deposits of the Urengoy oil, gas and condensate field