“The efficiency of Japanese investments (alternative to those in Russia) is mostly very low. From what we know in the last 3 yeast Japanese firms faced almost 600 bln yen of write downs (around 6 bln USD) because of bad investments in projects associated with hard-to-recover hydrocarbons in US and Canada, and also because of unsuccessful projects in the North Sea. And this had to be done in a period of high oil prices! De-facto IRR for international upstream projects of INPEX by the end of 2014 was 3.1% (Wood Macikenzie estimates). This is around 4 times less than a standard revenue ratio”.

The Commission would assess it "rigorously against the European regulatory framework," it said, and the project would have to comply with environment, competition and public procurement rules.

“There are a lot of gas projects under development in the world, and that will drive demand for more ships,” Kim said Oct. 28. “Growing environmental concerns also are pushing demand for more gas-powered power plants, which means there will be more demand for gas.”

Referring to the Nord Stream projects I & II, former Deputy Prime Minister of Poland Janusz Steinhoff said: “From the point of view of domestic diversification and policy, these projects are extremely irrational, because these are examples of bypassing various regulations to liberalize the gas markets which are in place in the European Union. In other words, Nord Stream I & II are not subject to regulation that gas pipelines running through the EU are, and this is an evident example of an irrational approach and a lack of solidarity in Europe.”

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Total SA and BP Plc will retain $8 billion a year in cash by giving investors the option of receiving payouts in shares instead, according to Jean-Pierre Dmirdjian, an analyst at Liberum Capital Ltd. That’s equivalent to about 8.5 percent of total cash and equivalents currently on their books, making the so-called scrip dividend a vital tool as companies curb spending to ride out the slump in oil prices.

Turkey said in February it struck a deal giving it a 10.25 percent price discount on gas from Russia's Gazprom but that accord was not signed and state pipeline operator Botas said last week it had appealed to the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) after months of fruitless talks. "An agreement was clinched on the 10.25 percent, therefore we are taking that as our base level, but will seek a higher discount at international arbitration," Alaboyun said in an interview.

It plans to sell $20 billion of asset in the two years to the end of 2015 and reiterated a plan to dispose off $30 billion from 2016 to 2018, following the acquisition of BG Group.

Shell agreed to buy British rival BG Group for 47 billion pounds ($69.7 billion) in April, in a deal widely seen as an effort by the energy company to adapt to lower prices. The deal will boost Shell's oil and gas reserves by 25 percent and give it a bigger presence in the fast-growing liquefied natural gas market.

Brazil’s largest oil workers union, known as FUP, joined several smaller striking unions on Sunday to protest Petrobras’ plans to sell up to $15.1 billion worth of assets and slash its 2016 budget down to $19 billion, a 30 percent reduction.

Kazakhstan's vast Kashagan oil field, the world's biggest oil find in decades, is expected to restart production at the end of 2016, Exxon Mobil Production Vice President John Chaplin said.

Nigeria's government has approved the payment of 413 billion naira ($2.1 billion) to oil marketers as outstanding payment for fuel subsidy claims, the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said.

Fernando Assing, TESCO's Chief Executive Officer, commented, "We continue to be impacted by market conditions that reduced drilling activity and pricing. We are positioning our business under the assumption that the market will be lower for longer. Consistent with our commitment of sustainability through the current market, we implemented additional global restructuring actions in the third quarter with annualized savings of approximately $5 million, bringing our total annualized savings from restructuring to $40 million. These actions are designed to lower our cost structure and better match current market activity. We continue to see opportunities to improve our operating performance and improve cash generation".

"Energy resources are plentiful. Concerns over running out of oil and gas have disappeared," Eyton said at the launch of BP's inaugural Technology Outlook.

Internal OPEC squabbles are on the rise as members argue about the need to support a fair oil price and boost revenues just as they feel more pain from low crude prices.

"It is evident that the global oil dynamic has experienced a fundamental shift, driven by the resilience in supply," said CEO Asim Ghosh. "Back in 2010, we made the decision to stay diversified, integrated and begin a transition into a low sustaining capital business. In a lower for longer world, our low sustaining capital projects in the Asia Pacific Region, oil sands, heavy oil thermals and Downstream margin business have become even more strategic.