“The one hope is that earnings bounce back and company cash flows [improve],” Mr Caprio added. “If that doesn’t happen, [companies] will have debt to pay off and it is unclear how they’ll pay it.”

Now the two sides, buyer and seller, will have to make do without the safety-net the contracts offered: high gas demand translates into high gas prices for the customers, while indexation to low oil prices would have deprived Gazprom of the upside of a temporary supply glitch or a prolonged cold winter.

"Everybody is trying to get a big stake in India--it is the biggest growing market in Asia," said Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst at London-based consultancy Energy Aspects.

“We remain committed to our strategic investment in Rosneft,” Scott Dean, a company spokesman, said by e-mail, adding that BP complies with all relevant European and U.S. sanctions. “In the low oil-price environment, Rosneft continues to deliver solid operational and financial performance, demonstrating the resilience of its business model.”

“Our goal is to sell LNG,” she said. “We’re happy to help local developers by investing in infrastructure if it helps the market grow.”

“The oil price is growing. I think everyone is expecting the successful outcome of our work,” Mr Sechin said. “We will need higher price levels than $45 or even $50 a barrel.”

"Now we're seeing reductions in spending on shorter cycle projects, in other words immediate drilling activity," Watson said. "Rig rates in the US are down almost 80%, we're seeing decline in rig rates around the world and we're starting to see the supply response that everyone has expected. So we're seeing the markets come back into better balance [but] it may take more time."

OAO Yamal LNG (“Yamal LNG”) announced the signing of an agreement with Sberbank and Gazprombank on a 15-year credit line facility for the total amount of EUR 3.6 billion at EURIBOR 6M plus 4.7% annual interest rate. The agreement signed with the Russian banks is part of the project financing package for Yamal LNG.

Chevron Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc had their ratings reduced by one level, while Total SA’s was cut two steps, according to statements by the New York-based rating company on Friday. Chevron will generate negative cash flow amid rising debt for at least the next two years, while Shell will have elevated leverage following its acquisition of BG Group Plc, Moody’s said. Prices are expected to stay low through this year and next and continue to pressure Total’s operating cash flows and credit metrics, Moody’s said.

Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) and Baker Hughes Incorporated (NYSE:BHI) today announced that the companies intend to vigorously contest the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) effort to block their pending merger. The companies believe that the DOJ has reached the wrong conclusion in its assessment of the transaction and that its action is counterproductive, especially in the context of the challenges the U.S. and global energy industry are currently experiencing.

The transaction combines two complementary technology portfolios into a pore-to-pipeline products and services offering to the global oil and gas industry. The merger will create technology-driven growth by integrating Schlumberger reservoir and well technology with Cameron wellhead and surface equipment, flow control and processing technology. This will result in the industry’s first complete drilling and production systems, which are enabled by Schlumberger expertise in instrumentation, data processing, control software, and system integration.

State-run Saudi Arabian Oil Co. increased its official selling price for May Light, Medium and Heavy sales to U.S. buyers by 40 cents a barrel, the company said in an e-mailed statement Tuesday. Extra Light crude will sell at a premium of $2.60 a barrel to the regional benchmark, 75 cents higher than the differential in April. For the U.S., the benchmark is the Argus Sour Crude Index.

Brazil’s troubled state-run oil company Petróleo Brasileiro SA on Friday announced a beefed up voluntary layoff program that could affect up to 12,000 jobs amid intense efforts to cut costs.

Leading global drilling and engineering contractor, KCA Deutag, today announces that it has sold its jack-up drilling unit, the Ben Loyal to Egyptian headquartered Advanced Energy Systems A.D.E.S. SAE for an undisclosed sum.

In 2015, LUKOIL Group total hydrocarbon production increased by 2.8 % y-o-y and reached 2.379 million boe per day. Crude oil production* increased by 3.6 % y-o-y to 100.7 million tons.