Aug 25 A Chinese oil rig at the centre of last year's standoff between China and Vietnam will continue drilling not far from Vietnam's coast, China's maritime safety authorities said on Tuesday.

Iraq has paid foreign oil companies $9 billion in remaining arrears for 2014 and was paying outstanding fees for 2015 in stages until the beginning of next year, its oil minister said.

The Russian government has decided not to fund four out of five Rosneft projects for which the oil company had requested financing from the sovereign wealth fund, the economy minister said on Monday.

US crude prices plunged below $40 a barrel for the first time since the financial crisis on Friday, amid increasing signs the year long oil rout still has further to run.

Russian energy firms are weathering low oil prices and will continue to increase output in the next few years even if Saudi Arabia raises production to depress prices further, one of Russia's fastest growing oil companies says.

China and Russia aren’t targeting a deal during the visit as the more than 50 percent slump in crude over the past year complicates talks

U.S. Rig Count is up 1 rig from last week to 885, with oil rigs up 2 to 674, gas rigs unchanged at 211, and miscellaneous rigs down 1 to 0.

PJSC LUKOIL closed a deal to sell its 50% share in Caspian Investments Resources Ltd. to China-based Sinopec. The required permits from the state authorities of the Republic of Kazakhstan were acquired in late July 2015.

During a visit to the West Qurna II oilfield in Basra, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi reiterated his government’s commitment to ensuring the security of the southern oilfields and their workers. He met with senior management of the Russian operator Lukoil, following protests by locals demanding jobs.

ERIELL, an international oilfield service group, has signed a contract with LUKOIL Middle East for drilling of 25 producing wells at the West Qurna-2 field in Iraq.

Despite all denials coming from the Chinese officials in recent months, China is reportedly planning to build gigantic floating islands in the disputed South China Sea. This unchecked ambition of Chinese leaders will surely tip this already heated-up Asian sub-region into what experts called “land-grabbing tussle”, a situation that might be escalated into civil wars among China and countries like the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, Cambodia and Indonesia that also lay claim to some parts of these islands.

The Obama administration granted Royal Dutch Shell final clearance on Monday to resume drilling for oil and gas in the environmentally fragile Arctic Ocean for the first time since 2012, a move green groups vowed to fight.

A company of the Rosneft Group and a subsidiary of Trican Well Service Ltd. signed a framework agreement and ancillary documents, pursuant to which a Rosneft subsidiary agreed to acquire a 100% shareholding in Trican Well Service LLC, which provides high-quality pressure pumping services focused on enhancement of production within the conventional oil and gas industry in Russia.

Oil production from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) totaled 31.4 million barrels per day (b/d) in July, up 120,000 b/d from the June level of 31.28 million b/d

U.S. Rig Count is unchanged from last week at 884, with oil rigs up 2 to 672, gas rigs down 2 to 211, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 1.