October 2016

The North American market has continued to "grind slowly upwards" as the rig count, particularly in the US, ticks ahead from troughs seen six months ago, Martin Craighead said during a quarterly conference call with analysts. But "customers need to be more confident of the durability of those prices before making any significant change to their spending patterns," Craighead said.

The state-controlled Russian energy group will yield to EU demands on how it sells gas in Europe in order to escape a penalty for past anti-competitive behaviour. The bargain is likely to anger eastern and Baltic states that have campaigned for a tougher approach.

The worsening OPEC equation presents Saudi Arabia with a difficult choice after its Algiers U-turn: carry a greater burden within the group, ceding market share to other producers, or lose credibility by softening the terms of the deal. In a worst-case scenario, Saudi Arabia will have to cut production by more than 1 million barrels a day, sending the kingdom’s output to a two-year low.

ConocoPhillips’ nine-month 2016 earnings were a net loss of $3.6 billion, or ($2.88) per share, compared with a nine-month 2015 net loss of $1.0 billion, or ($0.80) per share. Nine-month 2016 adjusted earnings were a net loss of $3.0 billion, or ($2.40) per share, compared with a nine-month 2015 adjusted net loss of $0.6 billion, or ($0.50) per share.

Revenues for the third quarter of 2016 were $1.65 billion, a decrease of five percent compared to the second quarter of 2016 and a decrease of 50 percent from the third quarter of 2015. Operating loss for the third quarter was $1.19 billion, or 72.1 percent of sales. Excluding other items, operating loss was $108 million, or 6.6 percent of sales. Adjusted EBITDA (operating profit excluding other items before depreciation and amortization) for the third quarter was $68 million, or 4.1 percent of sales, an increase of $43 million from the second quarter of 2016.

Net operating income was USD 737 million in the third quarter compared to USD 883 million in the same period of 2015. The reduction was primarily due to lower oil and gas prices, expensed exploration wells and lower refinery margins. Continued progress on the improvement programme with reduced costs and strong operational performance contributing positively to the results.

Nabors Industries Ltd. ("Nabors") (NYSE: NBR) today reported third-quarter 2016 operating revenues of $519.7 million, compared to operating revenues of $571.6 million in the second quarter of 2016. Net income from continuing operations, attributable to Nabors, for the current quarter was a loss of $99.0 million, or $0.35 per diluted share, compared to a loss of $183.7 million, or $0.65 per diluted share, last quarter.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 were down 51 cents, or 1 percent, at $50.28 a barrel as of 0648 GMT. Prices hit $50.13 earlier in the session, the lowest since Oct. 3. U.S. crude CLc1 was at $49.37 per barrel, down 59 cents, or 1.2 percent, from its settlement on Tuesday. It dropped to $49.21 earlier, the lowest since Oct. 10.

Big companies responded with big cuts. BP, Eni and their peers cut exploration spending by 35% in 2015 compared with 2013, Wood Mackenzie’s data show. Many projects now focus on lower-risk, lower-reward prospects as companies hope for incremental gains near existing infrastructure that they can bring online quickly and cheaply.

Russia is the world's largest producer of crude oil (including lease condensate) and the second-largest producer of dry natural gas. Russia also produces significant amounts of coal. Russia's economy is highly dependent on its hydrocarbons, and oil and natural gas revenues account for more than 40% of the federal budget revenues.