Gazprom revived its contract with Italian contractor Saipem (controlled by state-run Eni SpA). The Milan-based company had signed two contracts worth €2.4 bn in total for the construction of an undersea pipeline and support services for construction of a second undersea pipeline, both part of much touted South Stream. The contract terms are now being renegotiated, so as to start construction in time for the 2016 deadline.

Europe’s biggest oil groups are extending business deals with their Russian energy partners despite this month’s EU vote to continue imposing sanctions, highlighting how western companies are learning to live with the restrictions placed on Moscow.

China’s ambassador to the Philippines has suggested that the two countries sit down for talks on the most squeamish territorial dispute in Asia. The question of who controls the fishery-rich, 3.5 million-square-kilometer South China Sea, also full of oil and natural gas as well as major world shipping lanes, could proceed from military preparations to a calm negotiating room. The two governments – both unusually aggressive in asserting rival claims to the sea — might be able to work something out. The Philippines is talking now to Taiwan to agree on law enforcement in their own overlapping waters.

Deepwater oil projects and complex gas facilities worth around $200 billion have been cancelled or put on hold worldwide in recent months due to the sharp drop in oil prices over the past year, consultancy Ernst and Young said.

Large cuts in the energy industry have made news for the first two quarters of 2015. Halliburton cut 9,000 jobs in six months and reported a loss of $643 million in Q1 of 2015. Schlumberger reported even deeper cuts that tallied around 11,000 in efforts to reduce personnel employment 15 percent when compared to the third quarter of 2014.

Norwegian oil and gas company Statoil says it will lay off up to 1,500 staff and 500 consultants by the end of to slash costs.

US Arctic oil and gas policies should recognize the industry’s extensive global Far North experience and technology, American Petroleum Institute officials said. “If we don’t use this knowledge, other Arctic nations will move to the forefront of energy development there,” API Upstream Operations Director Erik Milito told reporters at a June 12 briefing.

BP could be close to a $700 million deal with Russia’s Rosneft for a 20% stake in a Siberian oilfield, the company led by Igor Sechin further showed how national companies can cope with sanctions, maintaining ties with Western companies and progressively switching to Asian markets.

In Budapest, Mr. Šefčovič reported that, in the wake of the cancellation of South Stream last December, all parties in Europe have been paying attention to statements from Russia, as a gas supplier, and Europe's stance on infrastructure has been altered.

From June 2014 to May 2015, when the oil and gas prices as measured by the PPI fell by 49%, the PPI by industry classification showed the following changes: - Rates for drilling activities, which primarily represent service fees for contractors to drill oil and gas wells, declined by 19.6%. - Rates for support activities, which include the surveying, cementing, casing, and otherwise treating wells, declined by 1.4%. - The price of sands primarily used for hydraulic fracturing declined 12.5%.

U.S. Rig Count is down 2 rigs from last week to 857, with oil rigs down 4 to 631, gas rigs up 2 to 223, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 3. U.S. Rig Count is down 1001 rigs from last year at 1858, with oil rigs down 914, gas rigs down 88, and miscellaneous rigs up 1. The U.S. Offshore rig count is 27, down 2 rigs from last week, and down 32 rigs year over year.

Rosneft and BP today signed several agreements strengthening the long term strategic relationship between the two companies, at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

Rosneft and China National Chemical Corporation (ChemChina) signed at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum a contract for crude oil supplies to the Chinese company.

Total S.A. and Rosneft signed at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum an agreement, confirming the execution of a sale and purchase agreement with regard to the 16.67% share in PCK Raffinerie GmbH. The document was signed by Rosneft Chairman of the Management Board Igor Sechin and Chief Executive Officer of Total Patrick Pouyanné.

Itera, a 100% Rosneft subsidiary, and General Electric signed an agreement of intent regarding natural gas processing cooperation at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

Турция выдала разрешение на инженерные изыскания по морскому участку «Турецкого потока». Документ предусматривает проведение исследований по первой нитке газопровода в исключительной экономической зоне, а также в территориальных водах Турции.

‘Rosneft and BP signed final binding agreements for Rosneft’s sale to BP of a 20 per cent share of Taas-Yuryakh Neftegazodobycha (Taas), creating a new joint venture in East Siberia. The document was signed by Rosneft Management Board Chairman Igor Sechin and President of BP Russia David Campbell’ BP said, reporting one of the most relevant deals. During the first day of the international conference, Gazprom agreed to build a new pipeline to Germany under the Baltic Sea with Germany’s E.ON, Anglo-Dutch Shell, and Austria’s OMV.

Germany’s Wintershall agreed Thursday to sell stakes in several North Sea assets and fields to Tellus Petroleum for a combined $602 million.

In terms of oil and gas reserves per capita, Qatar is still “well ahead” of the other major oil and gas producers with 83,600 barrels of oil equivalent in 2014.

Declines in oil and natural gas extraction and support employment tend to lag declines in crude oil prices. As prices of North Sea Brent crude oil fell from their June 2014 level of $112 per barrel, firms reduced the number of new wells drilled and the associated workforce. The count of drilling rigs in the United States, as measured by Baker Hughes, totaled 857 for the week ending June 19, 54% below the same point a year ago and the lowest level in nearly six years.