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 state-controlled Russian energy group will yield to EU demands on how it sells gas in Europe in order to escape a penalty for past anti-competitive behaviour. The bargain is likely to anger eastern and Baltic states that have campaigned for a tougher approach.

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.

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.

Russia is the world's largest producer of crude oil (including lease condensate) and the second-largest producer of dry natural gas. Russia also produces significant amounts of coal. Russia's economy is highly dependent on its hydrocarbons, and oil and natural gas revenues account for more than 40% of the federal budget revenues.

Total company revenue was flat at $3.8 billion, operating income was $128 million, and cash flow from operating activities for the third quarter was in excess of $1.0 billion. These results were driven primarily by increased utilization in North America, as well as effective global cost and working capital management.

Baker Hughes Announces Third Quarter Results: - Revenue of $2.4 billion for the quarter, down 2% sequentially and 38% year-over-year - Operating losses were $321 million for the quarter, a sequential improvement of $249 million, or 44% - GAAP net loss per share of $1.00 for the quarter includes $0.85 per share of adjusting items - Cash flows from operating activities were $119 million for the quarter

However, Russian oil and natural gas companies’ capital investment programs have been less affected, if at all.

Shell’s net debt has more than doubled to $75bn since its £35bn takeover of BG Group was completed in February.

"With the unparalleled cost and cash discipline we have established, we are confident in our capability to deliver incremental margins north of 65% and a free cash conversion rate above 75%. Going forward, this will give us significant flexibility to both re-invest in our business and steadily return cash to our shareholders. This capability, together with our unmatched scale and our unique ability to drive change throughout our company, clearly sets us apart from other industry players."

We expect global GDP to more than double over the next 20 years, while energy demand increases by only 30%. The difference between those two things is improving energy efficiency or declining energy intensity. That is critical in underpinning the shift we expect to see in the rate of growth of carbon emissions. We think the energy intensity of GDP will decline much more rapidly than we’ve ever seen before.

An oasis of calm in a hot region, the UAE is at once a critical geo-market and the ideal gateway to the most important oil and gas region in the world.