This summer the U.S. oil price has whipsawed from more than $50 a barrel in June to below $40 earlier this month. In the past two weeks it has risen more than 20%, to a recent $48.22 a barrel.

As a result of the investment, Iraq's crude output should increase by 250,000-350,000 barrels per day next year, the Iraqi officials said. The country now produces about 4.6 million bpd, most of it from the southern region.

The government hopes foreign companies will invest as much as $50 billion a year in Iran’s oil industry. Major European oil companies such as Italy’s Eni SpA and France’s Total SA have expressed an interest in developing Iran’s oil and gas fields.

China is a huge opportunity and a priority market for Azerbaijan. More than 50 agreements have been signed between the two countries so far. Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation has recently opened a representative office in China to support and encourage relations between the two countries' businessmen, as well as expand Azerbaijan's exports to the Chinese market and attract China's leading investment funds to the Azerbaijan economy.

Total E&P Russie, a 100% affiliate of Total group, has transferred a 20% participating interest in and the operatorship of the Production Sharing Agreement for the Development and Production of Oil in the Kharyaga Field (Kharyaga PSA) to Zarubezhneft-Production Kharyaga LLC, a subsidiary of Zarubezhneft JSC.

Demand for gas in expanding rapidly in Southeast Asia and Vietnam is no exception. LNG is in demand as an energy source for industrial parks around Ho Chi Minh City in the country's south. There are plans to build LNG facilities, including at the port of Thi Vai near the city.

Iran's failure to get full access to the global financial system a year after it signed the nuclear deal with world powers has intensified domestic political infighting. It has also turned up the heat on President Hassan Rouhani, a pragmatist facing re-election next year, who has gambled on attracting foreign investment to help raise voters' living standards.

Mozambique made one of the world's biggest gas finds in a decade in 2010 but negotiations with operators Eni and U.S. firm Anadarko have dragged on for years due to disputes over terms and concerns about falling energy prices.

Statoil ASA (OSE:STL, NYSE:STO) and Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras (“Petrobras”) (BVMF: PETR4, NYSE:PBR) have agreed that Statoil will acquire Petrobras’ 66% operated interest of the BM-S-8 offshore licence in Brazil’s highly prolific Santos basin. The acquisition includes a substantial part of the Carcará oil discovery, one of the largest discoveries in the world in recent years.

Statoil ASA plans to cut its capital expenditure guidance for 2016 to $12 billion from $13 billion. That includes an exploration guidance reduction to $1.8 billion from $2 billion.

“The industry has got a real problem,” says Chris Pateman-Jones of Ernst & Young. “Projects are becoming larger and more complex and more challenging … Even if they were to hit their targets, they could still be uneconomic.”

Britain is on track to meet its 2020 European renewable energy target and its commitment will not be affected by the country's vote to leave the EU, government officials said.

The World Bank is downgrading its 2016 global growth forecast to 2.4 percent from the 2.9 percent pace projected in January. The move is due to sluggish growth in advanced economies, stubbornly low commodity prices, weak global trade, and diminishing capital flows.

The current oil price environment has had a negative impact on oil investments, hurt energy efficiency and boosted the share of oil produced in the Middle East.

Two projects worth $45 billion announced this month show the world’s largest oil companies are regaining the confidence to make big investments, emboldened by rising crude prices and low costs that promise to trigger more expansion ahead.