The U.S. government is to check if sanctions where violated when Russia this week struck a deal to sell a stake in oil producer Rosneft to a consortium of Qatar's sovereign fund and commodities trader Glencore, the White House said.

Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) today announced a $19.8 billion capital and exploratory investment program for 2017. Included in the 2017 program are $4.7 billion of planned affiliate expenditures.

India, the world's third-biggest energy consumer, is striving to grow its natural gas use and shift away from oil and coal for power and industry, but its lack of gas import infrastructure is stymieing faster adoption of the cleaner-burning fuel.

The worldwide rig count for November 2016 was 1,678, up 58 from the 1,620 counted in October 2016, and down 369 from the 2,047 counted in November 2015.

Indonesian companies are interested to join upstream projects in Iran's oil industry in fields like Ab Teymour and Mansouri oilfields, said Chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) of Indonesia Zulkifli Hasan.

U.S. Rig Count is down 140 rigs from last year's count of 737, with oil rigs down 68, gas rigs down 73, and miscellaneous rigs up 1. Canadian Rig Count is up 23 rigs from last year's count of 177, with oil rigs up 23, gas rigs down 2, and miscellaneous rigs up 2.

Oil companies around the world have together added $630 billion to their market value this year, the biggest gain in six years following a 30 percent rise in benchmark Brent crude. This follows a $1.2 trillion loss in value last year and $790 billion in 2014 as crude prices plunged.

EBITDA decreased by 12.5% quarter-on-quarter mainly because of negative crude oil export duty time lag effect, which was partially offset by higher refining margins in Russia. Profit attributable to shareholders was 54.8 bln RUB, down 12.4% from the second quarter of 2016.

"The general trend and public statements suggest that OPEC can reach a viable agreement for its production and market management." "If we can agree, and I am optimistic, (oil) prices will increase and this is also what the world economy demands."

“Security and access to funding are the biggest challenges right now to private sector players,” says Kola Karim, managing director of domestic producer Shoreline Energy. “The situation is really tough.”

U.S. Rig Count is down 151 rigs from last year's count of 744, with oil rigs down 81, gas rigs down 71, and miscellaneous rigs up 1. Canadian Rig Count is down 10 rigs from last year's count of 184, with oil rigs up 13, gas rigs down 25, and miscellaneous rigs up 2.

Managing Director of Pergas Consortium Colin Rowley says his consortium is ready to invest in Iranian petroleum industry, train workforce and transfer technology.

A particularly important aspect of this consolidation pertains to reforms in PEMEX, the state-owned oil company. Earlier this month, PEMEX released a five-year business plan that aims at turning the company profitable by 2020, through efficiency improvements and a focus on high-return activities.

Iranian oil and gas sectors are very much attractive to foreign investors because of low cast of production, a senior expert said on Monday.

Nigeria, which was Africa's largest oil producer until a few months ago, slipped into recession after its economy shrank by 2.06% in Q2, as the impact of militant attacks on oil facilities weighed on the country's economy.