Some of the largest U.S. shale oil producers have already begun slashing 2016 budgets, with some planning double-digit reductions starting next January, the latest sign low crude prices are forcing a radical adjustment in the industry.

Oil production from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) totaled 31.26 million barrels per day (b/d) in August, down 140,000 b/d from the July level of 31.4 million b/d as several member countries, including Saudi Arabia, trimmed output, according to a just-released Platts survey of OPEC and oil industry officials and analysts.

Low oil prices risk causing a lack of investment in conventional oil supply in non-OPEC countries, strengthening OPEC market power and creating additional uncertainty, the IEA's director for energy markets and security, Keisuke Sadamori, said Tuesday.

Britain's North Sea oil and gas sector has shed more than 5,000 jobs since late last year, the country's new Oil and Gas Authority said on Monday, putting an official figure on job losses resulting from a year-long decline in oil prices.

Energy companies have been hurt by the swoon in crude prices this year, but Canadian Oil Sands is among the worst performing. The company’s stock has lost almost 40% of its value so far this year, compared with a 22% decline in the Toronto Stock Exchange energy index.

Due to actual investments in production the volumes are still being added to the market, but the current cuts are starting to have an affect. In the next years the ongoing programs of investment shrinking - primarily from the transnational corporations - will certainly have their effect. As for now, the implementation of their long-term investment programs that started even before the current crisis has expressed in some production growth. But in 2014, the oil majors claimed to reduce the investment in production; in 2015, additional reductions by 10-20% and more were announced by such majors as BP, Shell, Chevron, Total. Overall cutback in global upstream investment was about $140 bln, and it is expected to reach $200-250 bln by 2016 year-end. Within 2-3 years, this will inevitably influence on the production and will have a long-term negative effect.

Oil declined for a second day after another Russian official ruled out cooperation on production cuts with OPEC, adding to signs that a global oversupply will persist.

Amidst the gloomy days of August when Brent Crude bottomed out at $42/bbl, the acquisition of Cameron by Schlumberger ($14.8 billion) took place as one of the largest mergers in the oil patch, following the tie-up of Halliburton and Baker Hughes ($32 billion) in November 2014. This consolidation has resulted in an integrated service & equipment provider covering the full oil & gas lifecycle from reservoir to first flow.

On measures including cash flow, profit margins and share prices, OAO Rosneft, Lukoil PJSC-- Russia’s two largest oil producers -- and OAO Gazprom Neft are performing better than Royal Dutch Shell Plc, BP Plc or Exxon Mobil Corp.

U.S. crude-oil futures remained in negative territory Tuesday in Asian trade, tracking the previous day’s drop in Brent crude when U.S. markets were shut for a holiday.

Saudi Aramco, the kingdom's state oil giant, is talking to banks about raising a $5 billion loan related to a refinery it built in collaboration with China's Sinopec.

US shale producers reported a cash outflow of more than $30bn in the first half of the year, in a sign of the challenges facing the US’s once-booming industry as the slump in oil prices begins to take effect. The shortfall points to a rise in bankruptcies and restructurings in the US shale oil industry, which has expanded rapidly in the past seven years but has never covered its capital expenditure from its cash flow.

U.S. Rig Count is down 13 rigs from last week to 864, with oil rigs down 13 to 662, gas rigs unchanged at 202, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 0.

Britain's North Sea oil and gas sector has shed more than 5,000 jobs since late last year, the country's new Oil and Gas Authority said on Monday, putting an official figure on job losses resulting from a year-long decline in oil prices.

Rosneft Vietnam B.V., a company of Rosneft Group, and Japan Drilling Co., Ltd. (JDC) represented by its subsidiary Hakuryu 5, Inc. signed an agreement on provision and operation of the marine drilling rig HAKURYU-5, for the purposes of drilling exploration wells within the framework of Rosneft’s projects in Vietnam. It is planned to drill two wells in Blocks 06.1 and 05-3/11 in the Nam Con Son basin offshore Vietnam in 2016.