Deals for North Sea oilfields — which have been held back by the plummeting price of Brent crude — could soon come back on stream, as a new tax cut helps to draw in private equity investors.

European companies are increasing their focus on offshore projects, securing an increase of their financing facilities and forging joint ventures to reduce costs.

But now, with prices low, the risk of getting busted by Nigeria’s navy now outweighs the get-rich rewards of sabotaging pipelines, stealing oil and smuggling vast quantities of it onto international markets. Indeed, some of these thieves have reverted to plunking fish traps in the waters they helped pollute.

The United States will struggle to follow through on threats to impose deeper sanctions on the Russian energy sector, as European fears over collateral economic damage leave President Barack Obama's administration with diminished options.

The world’s biggest energy groups have sold record amounts of debt this year, taking advantage of historically low interest rates to plug cash shortfalls with borrowing, after a 50 per cent plunge in oil prices.

The US drilling rig count fell 56 units—41 of which targeted oil—to settle at 1,069 rigs working during the week ended Mar. 20, capping off the 15th consecutive week in declines, according to data from Baker Hughes Inc.

Private equity groups including Carlyle and Blackstone are to deploy billions of dollars in a hunt for acquisitions across the oil and gas industry, with a collapse in oil prices expected to lead to a wave of asset sales.

Lifting the longstanding ban on U.S. crude oil exports would boost the country’s economy and enhance its global leadership, a former senior Obama administration official will tell senators on Thursday, introducing a strategic dimension to the growing debate over selling American oil abroad.

Energy Minister Taner Yıldız claimed the allegation regarding the 10.25 percent discount agreement reached with Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom was not real.

The level of interest in new oil and gas exploration in the Gulf of Mexico is slowing due to the low price of oil, but federal regulators said they remain optimistic about the future of offshore drilling.

Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman is preparing to sell a dozen North Sea gasfields at the heart of a fierce row over ownership, in a move that would avert a high-profile legal battle with the UK government.

Deepening political divisions between Nigeria’s regions over the presidential poll and the absence of a clear front-runner increase the risk of a contested outcome and a turbulent aftermath

Taking advantage of lower oil prices, India will next month begin filling up its maiden strategic oil reserves to insulate itself from supply disruptions.

Indonesia's 2015 revenue target is "really unrealistic" and there will be a large budget shortfall that could force the government to cut spending, a World Bank economist said on Wednesday.

Saudi Aramco will increase its spending on research and development in 2015, despite the falling price of oil.