President Obama’s proposal to add a new $10 per barrel tax on crude oil would harm consumers.

Net loss of $2.007 billion ($1.38 per common share), due to non-cash asset writedowns, which were a result of the depressed commodity cycle, and a foreign exchange loss on U.S. dollar denominated debt.

Full-year 2015 earnings were a net loss of $4.4 billion, or ($3.58) per share, compared with full-year 2014 earnings of $6.9 billion, or $5.51 per share. Excluding special items, full-year 2015 adjusted earnings were a net loss of $1.7 billion, or ($1.40) per share, compared with full-year 2014 adjusted earnings of $6.6 billion, or $5.30 per share.

Commenting on a statement by Gazprom on February 2 that Austria had imported 76.2% more gas this January than it had in January 2015, the country's dominant supplier OMV said that was because deliveries last year had been low for unspecified "technical reasons." "We are however back to normal levels this year," a spokesperson said. Gazprom said exports to Austria in 2015 were up by 11.5% in 2015 on the year but gave no volumes for either period.

The number of people employed in oil and gas extraction and support activities across the United States has fallen by around 100,000 since October 2014.

По предварительным данным, за январь 2016 года «Газпром» экспортировал на австрийский рынок на 76,2% больше газа, чем за аналогичный период 2015 года. В 2015 году объем поставок газа по сравнению с 2014 годом вырос на 11,5%.

The stress test had definitely shown that “we still need additional infrastructure, but not everywhere – we really need to target investment where it's really needed and have the projects of common interest (“PCI's”) and how Europe promotes investments should really be targeted to regions where we do need investments.”

The average natural gas spot price at the benchmark Henry Hub for December 2015 of $1.93 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) was the lowest monthly average since March 1999. EIA expects natural gas prices to rise, averaging $2.65/MMBtu in 2016 and $3.22/MMBtu in 2017. Expected price increases reflect consumption growth, mainly from the industrial sector, that outpaces near-term production growth.

"The practice of filling the market with cheap oil at any cost is wrong -- half a year or a year later it could be sold at twice as high," Leonid Fedun, vice-president of Lukoil, Russia's second largest oil producer, was quoted as saying.

The economy will shrink 1.5 percent this year, Alfa Bank’s Natalia Orlova said in a report on Monday, cutting her previous forecast for an expansion of 0.3 percent.

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, which represents the industry, forecast that it would invest C$42bn (US$29.5bn) this year, 13 per cent less than last year and 48 per cent less than in 2014. That is a steeper decline than investment in oil and gas production worldwide, which is expected to drop by 40 per cent over 2014-16, according to Wood Mackenzie, the energy research company.

Стороны обсудили вопросы экспорта российского газа в Италию. В 2015 году, по предварительным данным, он вырос на 12,6% по сравнению с 2014 годом и составил около 24,4 млрд куб. м газа, а с 1 по 20 января 2016 года увеличился на 24,5% по сравнению с аналогичным периодом 2015 года. Италия является одним из ключевых экспортных рынков «Газпрома» и в 2015 году заняла третье место среди стран дальнего зарубежья по объему поставок российского газа.

The biggest increase was seen in the consumption of gas-to-power by industrial customers, which increased by 161% to reach a total of 10.8% of overall consumption. The transmission operator attributes the increase in industrial demand to "favourable economic conditions."

"Just because I’ve built a pipeline, that doesn't mean that you have to buy my gas, the idea that that somehow it's undermining diversification of sources is just not true."

U.S. Rig Count is down 13 rigs from last week to 637, with oil rigs down 5 to 510, and gas rigs down 8 to 127.