Federal lawyers on Tuesday formally asked a judge in New Orleans to approve a record-breaking $20 billion-plus settlement agreement announced last July by the Department of Justice and five Gulf Coast states to resolve years of legal fighting about the 2010 Gulf oil spill.

PetroChina Co Ltd on Wednesday said profit fell 70 percent last year as low prices brought down upstream earnings, eclipsing the impact of a jump in natural gas income brought about in part by pipeline consolidation.

THE GUARDIAN - The Rockefeller Family Fund, a charity set up in 1967 by descendants of John D Rockefeller, said on Wednesday that it would divest from all fossil fuel holdings “as quickly as possible”.

Goods exports decreased to $1,513.5 billion from $1,632.6 billion, the first decrease since 2009. The largest decrease—which accounted for more than two-thirds of the total decrease in goods exports—was in industrial supplies and materials. The decrease was mainly due to a decrease in petroleum and products.

The deal will give Calgary-based TransCanada a strategic position in the Marcellus and Utica shales of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, the most promising regions in the US for gas production growth.

Saudi Aramco, through its wholly owned Saudi Refining Inc. (SRI), and Royal Dutch Shell, through its US downstream affiliate, agreed on Thursday to divide the assets of its 50:50 joint venture Motiva Enterprises.

Rosneft said on Wednesday it had signed a binding agreement to sell a 29.9 per cent interest in its Taas-Yuriakh subsidiary, which operates one of the largest oil and gasfields in eastern Siberia, to a consortium of three Indian companies: Oil India, Indian Oil and Bharat Petroresources.

Analysts estimate that between 15 and 20 percent of 2016 U.S. oil production is hedged, and as little as 2 percent for 2017.

Britain's finance minister George Osborne will cut taxes by 1 billion pounds ($1.41 billion) over five years for energy companies pumping oil from the country's North Sea fields, in a boost for an industry suffering low crude prices.

The data was revealed with the release of the Government Expenditure & Revenue Scotland (GERS) on March 9. According to that data, North Sea oil and gas revenue fell by 55% between the fiscal years 2013-2014 and 2014-2015. The revenue for 2014-2015 was just £2.25bn, less than half of the £4.8bn recorded in 2013-2014, and less than a quarter of the £10.9bn recorded in 2011-12.

Gazprom and Bank of China Limited, London Branch entered today in Shanghai into a five-year EUR 2 billion loan facility agreement.

“Times are tough, you’d almost call them brutal right now,” said Lamar McKay, BP PLC’s deputy chief executive. “But we will adapt. We will make it.”

In the face of the severe downturn in our industry our priorities for 2016 are to conserve cash and address our financing needs. We have a modern competitive fleet, a proven track record in operations and every intention to position ourselves for a recovery in the sector.

Oil companies are cutting investment, slashing jobs and selling off pipelines and other assets as crude prices plunge. “It’s going to be a very turbulent year for our industry,” says BP CEO Bob Dudley.

Full Year 2015 Highlights: • Earnings of $16.2 billion decreased 50 percent from $32.5 billion in 2014. • Earnings per share, assuming dilution, decreased 49 percent to $3.85. • Capital and exploration expenditures were $31.1 billion, down 19 percent from 2014. The company anticipates further reductions in 2016, with capital and exploration expenditures of $23.2 billion, a decrease of 25 percent from 2015. • Oil-equivalent production increased 3.2 percent from 2014, with liquids up 11 percent and natural gas down 5.7 percent. • Cash flow from operations and asset sales was $32.7 billion, including proceeds associated with asset sales of $2.4 billion. • The corporation distributed $15.1 billion to shareholders in 2015 through dividends and share purchases to reduce shares outstanding.