The document reflects indicative terms and conditions in relation to the equity acquisition. Currently Rosneft owns 16,67% in this joint venture, after the transaction is completed Rosneft will increase its stake to 40% of JV and PDVSA participation will be reduced to 60%.

Oil giant Rosneft is interested in the privatization of Saudi Arabia’s national petroleum company Saudi Aramco, according to Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin who made the statement at the International Petroleum Week forum in London.

From February 15, BG Group is part of Royal Dutch Shell. This combination brings together two world-class portfolios creating a more competitive company. We have acquired productive oil and gas projects across countries including Brazil and Australia and will be able to shape a simpler, leaner company. Together we will focus on our core expertise in deep water and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

A desire to capitalise on distressed situations, grow international market share and acquire new technology will drive a surge in M&A activity in the global oilfield services sector during 2016.

The shareholders of both Royal Dutch Shell PLC and BG Group PLC have approved the proposed merger of the two companies, and the deal is set to close on Feb. 15, some 10 months after it was first reported

The upstream, oil field services, midstream, and downstream businesses during the year collectively saw just 379 M&A deals take place, down from the 709 that occurred in 2014, and 409 and 389 that respectively took place in 2008 and 2009 amid the Great Recession. Total value in 2015 was $286.23 billion, down from $353.97 billion in 2014.

More than $60 billion in unsolicited corporate takeover bids during 2015 were rejected, causing deal value to drop to a 10-year low. Aside from the Shell-BG deal, there were no corporate takeovers exceeding $5 billion. Fewer than 10 asset deals valued at greater than $1 billion occurred, following more than 30 annually during each of the previous 2 years.

Statoil and Repsol announce transactions in Norway, UK, US and Brazil

Halliburton and Baker Hughes, which do the physical work of drilling wells and extracting oil and natural gas for energy companies, trail only Schlumberger Ltd. in the marketplace.

Urals Energy PCL (AIM:UEN), the independent exploration and production company with operations in Russia, is pleased to announce the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of two private Russian companies, RK-Oil Limited (“RK”) and BVN Oil Limited (“BVN”), from Mr Ilya Glebov. These companies were formed in 2014 in order to participate in public auctions for oil exploration and production licenses in Russia’s Komi region. Following these auctions both RK and BVN hold licenses in the Komi region.

The world’s six largest publicly traded oil producers have more than a half-trillion dollars in stock and cash to snap up rival explorers.

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.

During the 3-month period ending Sept. 30, an overall total of 51 oil and gas deals took place, accounting for $91.2 billion, which was higher than the 47 deals worth $38.8 billion that occurred in the previous quarter, but still down from the 83 deals worth $125.7 billion that occurred in third-quarter 2014.

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