Year-to-date, the goods and services deficit increased $10.8 billion, or 13.1 percent, from the same period in 2015. Exports decreased $20.5 billion or 5.5 percent. Imports decreased $9.7 billion or 2.1 percent.

Brazil’s troubled state-run oil company Petróleo Brasileiro SA on Friday announced a beefed up voluntary layoff program that could affect up to 12,000 jobs amid intense efforts to cut costs.

The international oil company said on Wednesday it was co-operating with officials from both the Netherlands and Italy as they investigate the $1.1bn deal, which Shell signed five years ago alongside Eni, the Italian oil company.

NEO - The Koch Brothers emerged stronger than ever, along with a slew of smaller oil tycoons, who lack the kind of longstanding and entrenched influence wielded by the Rockefeller dynasty.

China, the world's top energy user, is keen to boost cleaner burning natural gas consumption to tackle air pollution.

The Rockefeller Family Fund said on Wednesday it would divest from fossil fuels as quickly as possible and "eliminate holdings" of Exxon Mobil Corp, saying the oil company associated with the family fortune has misled the public about climate change risks.

Rosneft set a new record, having increased hydrocarbon production up to 254.2 mmtoe (5.16 mmboed). Development drilling meterage increased by 36% and reached 6.9 mln meters. More than 1.8 thousand of new wells were commissioned.

It is a challenging business environment but it's a sign of strong resilience that businesses can look ahead and still see opportunities that exist around the globe.

“Low oil prices fuel a reduction in risk-taking, and when there is less risk-taking, asset prices will fall. It can lead to a downward asset price spiral,”

The parties addressed strategic bilateral cooperation. It was noted that the collaboration between Gazprom and Chinese energy companies and financial institutions was consistently developing.

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.