The Interior Department on Friday proposed the first-ever federal regulations for oil and natural-gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean requiring companies to prepare extensive contingency plans that could swiftly respond to and contain an oil spill in the region’s frigid, isolated waters.

EOG Resources, the largest US shale oil producer, expects its rapid production growth of recent years to come to a halt in 2015, in the starkest sign yet of how weak crude prices are hitting the industry. The company told analysts on a call on Thursday that it was “intentionally choosing returns over growth”.

Italy's Eni raised its dividend on Wednesday despite a slump in fourth-quarter profits and like its rivals pledged to cut investment this year in the face of lower oil prices.

Trade unionists have warned they are ready to ballot on industrial action after companies including US-based groups Apache and Marathon , Talisman Sinopec and Canadian Natural Resources requested the move to a more demanding shift pattern.

The project to construct a new gas pipeline with a capacity of 63 billion cubic meters from Russia to Turkey has entered the execution stage, Russian energy giant Gazprom has said by a written statement on late Feb. 24.

There was no clear answer to the question of where LNG for Europe might come from in a session devoted to the topic at the European Gas Conference in Vienna, Austria, but that didn't mean that panel participants were unable to provide a wealth of information and insights to the discussion.

BP DOESN’T SEE SIGNIFICANT SHALE GAS PRODUCTION IN EUROPE BY 2035

Pemex cuts budget by $4 billion

Marathon revises down budget by 20%

An independent Dutch safety panel has found that the operators of Europe’s largest natural gas field, Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil, as well as the Dutch government, for years ignored the dangers posed by earthquakes in the field.

“So, fundamentally, the crisis in oil prices in 2014 – is just a ripple on the water compared to the oversupply tsunami of 1985. The amount of excess capacity is five times less. Operating costs are 2-3 times higher. Instead of a deep drop in demand – a growth is recorded. The rate of decline in marginal production – is ten times higher. There is a clear unbalance between fundamental drivers and the observed price dynamics” - highlighted Rosneft Head.

Looking into 2015 we face a very challenging market.

Halliburton says it will eliminate at least 5,000 jobs

Total reduces budget by 10% to $23-24 billion

Gazprom would be in a strong position to secure an outcome