U.S. Rig Count is down 29 rigs from last week to 809, with oil rigs down 26 to 614, gas rigs down 2 to 195, and miscellaneous rigs down 1 to 0.

Spain’s Repsol said Thursday it will axe 1,500 positions over the next three years as part of a cost-cutting effort. The cuts represent about six percent of the company’s workforce and staff have already been notified of the plan.The company declined to comment on how the cuts will be distributed throughout its operations.

Price adjustments in the gas markets caused by a drop in oil quotations hadn’t affected the dominant position of Asia-Pacific as a driver of growing global gas consumption. Following the expert reviews, by 2025 the region’s demand for imported gas might grow 1.5 times from present 280 billion cubic meters to over 400 billion cubic meters a year.

The oil giant is to halt drilling at the Burger J well in the US Arctic, saying it can't justify the expense due to low oil prices. Shell only won the controversial permission to explore the icy waters last month.

Energy Transfer Equity LP (ETE), Dallas, and Williams Cos. Inc., Tulsa, have agreed to merge in a deal valued at $37.7 billion, including the assumption of debt and other liabilities. Williams previously rejected an unsolicited all-equity acquisition proposal by ETE valued at $53.1 billion

The offers, which were submitted in July, nevertheless fell far short of LetterOne's target price of up to $1.2 billion, with the highest offers coming in at around $750 million, according to several sources close to the process.

Glencore has more than $10bn in short-term credit and has just raised a little under $2.5bn through an equity placing. Even at current commodity prices, it believes it can produce $3bn in free cash flow a year.

Halliburton Co., the world’s second-largest oilfield services provider, has cut 2,000 more jobs, mostly in North America, the region hardest hit by the crude collapse.

Changing dynamics in the global LNG market hint at a stronger role of European markets, and a decreased interest of American players given a minimal growth of the global markets, which are expected to increase 'only' between 2.1 and 2.5% in 2015.

A survey of 13 investment banks by The Wall Street Journal cut their average forecast for Brent crude, the international price gauge, by $9 to $58.70 a barrel, compared with last month’s survey. For West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. oil marker, the average forecast is for $54.40 a barrel, also down $9 from August.

India is ready to invest more than $15.2 billion to build projects in Iran including taking up full-scale development of Chabahar Port if Tehran offers better terms including cheaper gas, Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Wednesday.

"The original Nord Stream was funded by project finance. We believe raising multi-billion dollar project financing for Nord Stream 2 in the capital markets would probably be much harder now. This is because Western sanctions have significantly hindered international funding to Russian corporates, even those not directly sanctioned," Fitch said.

Plunging oil prices have rendered more than a trillion dollars of future spending on energy projects uneconomic, according to a study that suggests that the impact on industry operators is worsening.

Oil rose by more than 1 percent on Monday after data showed U.S. drilling slowed and a report said $1.5 trillion worth of planned production was uneconomic at current prices.

Results from second-quarter 2015 financial statements of a number of U.S. companies with onshore oil operations suggest continued financial strain for some companies. Low oil prices have significantly reduced cash flow for U.S. oil producers, and to adjust to lower cash flows, companies have reduced capital expenditures and raised more cash from debt and equity.