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

The Asian market is one of the key priorities for Gazprom and Sakhalin’s energy plays a significant role in the company’s strategy. This year the Sakhalin II project is celebrating its 10th anniversary. It is one of the world’s largest integrated, export-oriented gas and oil projects that became possible after the first ever Russian production sharing agreement in 1994. Sakhalin II is managed and operated by Sakhalin Energy Company and its shareholders: Gazprom (50% and 1 share), Shell (27.5% minus 1 share), Mitsui (12,5%), Mitsubishi (10%). It includes the only Russian LNG plant with 13.2 bcm annual capacity.

Spain’s Repsol said Thursday it will axe 1,500 positions over the next three years as part of a cost-cutting effort. The cuts represent about six percent of the company’s workforce and staff have already been notified of the plan.The company declined to comment on how the cuts will be distributed throughout its operations.

Price adjustments in the gas markets caused by a drop in oil quotations hadn’t affected the dominant position of Asia-Pacific as a driver of growing global gas consumption. Following the expert reviews, by 2025 the region’s demand for imported gas might grow 1.5 times from present 280 billion cubic meters to over 400 billion cubic meters a year.

Last month, the United States restricted exports, re-exports and transfers of technology and equipment to the Yuzhno-Kirinskoye field. The sanctions were imposed just weeks after media cited Shell officials as saying the firm was considering Yuzhno-Kirinskoye as part of an asset swap deal with Gazprom, announced in June.

The oil giant is to halt drilling at the Burger J well in the US Arctic, saying it can't justify the expense due to low oil prices. Shell only won the controversial permission to explore the icy waters last month.

Energy Transfer Equity LP (ETE), Dallas, and Williams Cos. Inc., Tulsa, have agreed to merge in a deal valued at $37.7 billion, including the assumption of debt and other liabilities. Williams previously rejected an unsolicited all-equity acquisition proposal by ETE valued at $53.1 billion

The offers, which were submitted in July, nevertheless fell far short of LetterOne's target price of up to $1.2 billion, with the highest offers coming in at around $750 million, according to several sources close to the process.

Glencore has more than $10bn in short-term credit and has just raised a little under $2.5bn through an equity placing. Even at current commodity prices, it believes it can produce $3bn in free cash flow a year.

China’s $40 billion Silk Road Fund said it would finance part of the project, a development Total CEO Patrick Pouyanné called “a clear commitment by China” in an interview Wednesday. The price paid for Silk Road’s 9.9% stake in Yamal wasn’t disclosed.