Oil services company Weatherford International Plc increased the total number of employees it is looking to lay off in 2015 to 10,000 as it copes with the fall in oil prices.

Halliburton has cut 9,000 jobs in about six months and is considering additional cost-cutting moves as falling oil prices reduce demand for its drilling help.

Revenue for the first quarter of 2015 was $4.6 billion, down 20% compared to the first quarter of 2014.

Schlumberger Announces First-Quarter 2015 Results

OPEC should consider re-introducing individual output quotas, shuffled quietly to one side in 2008, to prevent oversupply hitting prices should Iran increase its oil exports following a deal over its nuclear work, an OPEC delegate said.

Crude oil prices for May delivery climbed for a sixth consecutive day on both New York and London markets Apr. 16, which analysts attributed to signs of a possible slowing in US oil production.

U.S. Rig Count is down 34 rigs from last week to 954, with oil rigs down 26 to 734, gas rigs down 8 to 217, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 3.

U.S. shale well productivity rates should keep ticking up in May although total production will fall by 57,000 barrels per day, according to a new report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Schlumberger Ltd., the world’s largest oilfield services provider, will eliminate an additional 11,000 positions in a sign the industry will undergo another round of job cuts as a result of tumbling crude prices.

According to annual reports for 75 global oil and natural gas companies, oil proved reserve additions totaled 10.4 billion barrels in 2014, the lowest since 2010.

North Dakota’s oil production declined in February for the second consecutive month as drilling new wells slackened amid low oil prices. State regulators said Tuesday that February’s output was just short of 1.18 million barrels per day, down 50,435 daily barrels since December, which was the state’s all-time high. It was the first consecutive two-month drop since January 2011.

On December 1 2014, during his official visit to Turkey, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the suspension of South Stream, blaming the EU for its “unconstructive” position. In fact, the realization of pipeline had become untenable as a result of various legal, political and financial issues, such as the EU’s Third Energy Package, the Ukraine crisis and the ensuing sanctions over companies involved in South Stream (Stroytransgaz and Gazprombank).

Russia will continue to provide competitive natural gas deliveries to Europe until mid-2020 and there is a limited possibility that other sources including LNG supplies, will offset Russian imports significantly, participants at the Flame conference in Amsterdam said Tuesday.

Russia has been holding active, "unprecedented" consultations with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, a senior official said on Wednesday, a clear signal of Moscow's strive for higher oil prices.

Russia is pushing ahead with plans to build a pipeline to Turkey and further on to Greecevia the Black Sea, in line with its plans to stop exporting gas via Ukraine by 2019.