Bulgaria’s Cabinet was preparing to seek damages for the idled properties that were due to host infrastructure for the now-abandoned South Stream gas pipeline, with the government approving on August 26 the methodology for calculating such damages.

Aug 27 French oil major Total has agreed to sell some of its gas pipeline assets in the UK's North Sea to North Sea Midstream Partners, an affiliate of U.S.-based private equity firm ArcLight Capital, for 585 million pounds ($907 million).

Ukraine's efforts to store natural gas for winter are running 1 billion cubic metres behind their pace last year, Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said on Wednesday.

Most Middle Eastern stock markets declined amid mounting concern the region’s largest economy will cut spending after oil prices slumped to the lowest since 2009.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., Asia’s biggest oil refiner, posted a 22 percent decline in profit for the first half of the year as the slump in prices outweighed the benefit of cheaper crude to its refining business.

Cnooc Ltd., China’s biggest offshore oil and gas explorer, posted a 56 percent decline in profit for the first half of this year.

Russia’s Federal Security Service, the main successor to the KGB, is holding up Schlumberger Ltd.’s acquisition of a 46 percent stake in Eurasia Drilling Co., according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

Stock markets in Saudi Arabia and Dubai closed around 7 percent lower on Sunday on the back of a further slide in oil prices.

Iran will ramp up crude oil production and reclaim its lost share of exports shortly after international sanctions on the OPEC member are lifted, Iran's oil minister Bijan Zanganeh said on Tuesday.

Moody’s Investors Service on Monday cut the credit rating of Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. to one notch above speculative grade, citing the oil-sands producer’s “elevated leverage” as a result of lower crude oil prices.

Aug 25 A Chinese oil rig at the centre of last year's standoff between China and Vietnam will continue drilling not far from Vietnam's coast, China's maritime safety authorities said on Tuesday.

Iraq has paid foreign oil companies $9 billion in remaining arrears for 2014 and was paying outstanding fees for 2015 in stages until the beginning of next year, its oil minister said.

The Russian government has decided not to fund four out of five Rosneft projects for which the oil company had requested financing from the sovereign wealth fund, the economy minister said on Monday.

Russian energy firms are weathering low oil prices and will continue to increase output in the next few years even if Saudi Arabia raises production to depress prices further, one of Russia's fastest growing oil companies says.

China and Russia aren’t targeting a deal during the visit as the more than 50 percent slump in crude over the past year complicates talks