The selloff marks a sharp shift in Wall Street sentiment from earlier in the year, when investors piled into energy-company debt and firms sold new bonds as the price of oil appeared to stage a comeback.

"The market is oversupplied and production capacity will continue to grow because a lot of projects were sanctioned in 2013 and 2014," Pouyanne told reporters on the sidelines of the International Petroleum Technology Conference in Doha.

The falling oil and gasoline prices that for months have coincided with strong U.S. hiring have helped most Americans. But they’ve come at a painful cost for workers in the energy and mining sector: 122,300 lost jobs in the past year. Overall, U.S. employers added a robust 211,000 jobs and the unemployment rate held steady at a low 5 percent.

Crude oil production in January from seven major US shale plays is expected to drop 116,000 b/d to 4.86 million b/d, according to the US Energy Information Administration’s latest Drilling Productivity Report (DPR). The agency last month projected a 118,000-b/d decline for December. The DPR focuses on the Bakken, Eagle Ford, Haynesville, Marcellus, Niobrara, Permian, and Utica, which altogether accounted for 95% of US oil production increases and all US natural gas production increases during 2011-13.

The US drilling rig count dropped 7 units to 737 during the week ended Dec. 4, marking its lowest point since Oct. 15, 1999.

The January contract for light, sweet crude settled below $40/bbl on the New York market Dec. 4 after members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries acknowledged they would accommodate current production, which is more than 1 million b/d over the quota.

Александр Новак обратил внимание на существенное увеличение объема экспорта российской нефти в Китай: за 11 месяцев 2015 года рост поставок этого вида сырья в Китай составил 15% по сравнению с аналогичным периодом 2014 года. Всего с января по ноябрь текущего года из России в КНР экспортировано более 24 млн. тонн нефти.

China will add 70-90 million barrels of crude to storage tanks in 2016 to build up its strategic petroleum reserves (SPR).

Sinopec Corp (0386.HK), Asia's largest refiner, and Chinese state trader Zhuhai Zhenrong Corp will together lift around 505,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude from Iran in 2016, the same as this year when they took roughly half of the Islamic Republic's total exports, the sources said.

“I trust Saudi Arabia will act responsibly in line with its reputation," Birol, who worked for OPEC before joining the IEA 20 years ago, told Reuters on the sidelines of a the global climate change summit in Paris.

If current production remains unchanged at 31.5 million barrels a day, markets will still be oversupplied by 700,000 barrels a day in 2016—though that would be less than the glut of 1.8 million a barrel a day OPEC estimates for this year.

“We are interested to come back to Iran when the sanctions are lifted and if the contracts are interesting,” Stephane Michel, Total’s head of exploration and production in the Middle East said at the conference. “We have worked in this country for a long time, so we know specific fields on which we’ve worked.”

India's production will tail off due to limited resources and relatively high costs for new projects, leading to more imports as economic growth picks up speed.

In its Energy Demand Forecast, the institute said the country's jet fuel demand is expected to increase 5.5% on year to 36.2 million barrels next year, compared with 34.4 million barrels estimated for this year.

The joint venture between Rosneft and BP based on Taas-Yuryakh Neftegazodobycha LLC will continue further development of the Srednebotuobinskoye oil and gas condensate field which is one of the largest fields in the Eastern Siberia. The JV will also undertake the development of suitable infrastructure for further exploration and development of the region’s reserves.