Norway's previously long-standing cordial relations with Russia have deteriorated to the point that there is a real chance that simmering feelings could escalate, leading to a breakdown of cooperation in the oil and gas sector, writes Platts.

The current recoverable volume of oil in fields and discoveries exceeds the estimated figure in 2005, and it is also presumed that more oil remains to be discovered. This is the result of the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate’s (NPD’s) review of the resource basis in a select number of fields and discoveries on the Norwegian shelf between 2005 and 2014.

Through a series of deals with Rosneft, the Russian state-controlled oil company, Trafigura exported almost 9m barrels of crude in April, worth more than $500m, according to port data compiled by Nefte Compass, an industry publication.

Venezuela and Russia's top oil producer, Rosneft, have agreed on around $14 billion in investment in the South American OPEC country's oil and gas sector, President Nicolas Maduro said on Wednesday evening.

"Indonesian energy minister Sudirman Said met with Iran's oil minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh last week. We [Indonesia and Iran] agreed on two things -- Indonesia to buy Iranian crude and Iran allows Indonesia to participate in upstream business there," Dadan Kusdiana, spokesman at the energy and mines ministry said Thursday.

The UK's new Conservative government is planning an energy bill to set up the new Oil and Gas Authority with the powers it needs to become a "robust, independent and effective regulator"

Total has achieved the significant milestone of producing a cumulative two billion barrels from its operated deep offshore Block 17 located 150 km off the coast of Angola. With the recent start up of CLOV, Block 17 has become Total’s most prolific site with production of over 700,000 barrels per day.

China’s CNPC said Tuesday that it has made the country’s first ever tight oil discovery to exceed 100 million tons.

Crude oil prices are still about half their value compared with a year ago, but the now prolonged slump is unfolding such that another rise could be on the horizon

OPEC supply is expected to increase by 0.2-0.3 million barrels per day (bpd) between now and end-3Q2015, analysts of the US JP Morgan bank said in a report, obtained by Trend.

As petroleum minister during the 1970s oil boom, Muhammadu Buhari set up the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. It is an accident of history that the same man, elected president in March, could now be compelled to dismantle the state oil company he helped create.

The crisis has crept up in recent weeks amid wrangling by national fuel marketers over more than $1bn in alleged outstanding payments by the outgoing administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Nigeria earns 75% of its budget from oil. The country uses much of that revenue to subsidize fuel prices. Nigerians buy gasoline for just $1.65 a gallon. To the companies that sell fuel to Nigeria, the government pledges to pay the difference between that price and the market rate within 45 days.

Millions of barrels of untapped oil that U.S. shale drillers discovered during the boom years are about to disappear from their inventories.

Экспорт нефти из России в первом квартале 2015 года увеличился на 12,8% по сравнению с аналогичным периодом 2014 года - до 59,3 миллиона тонн, сообщает Росстат.