Biggest Oil-Rig Drop Since 2009 Spells Tough Year Ahead

Oil supplies in Iraq and Russia surged to the highest level in decades, signaling no respite in early 2015 from the glut that has pushed crude prices to their lowest in five years.

Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC), India’s biggest energy explorer, is banking on the world’s largest shale oil reserves to save its Russian acquisition. Stumbling blocks include oil prices at a five-year low and U.S. sanctions.

Oil price crash claims first U.S. LNG project casualty

Russia announced state aid for a major energy project on Wednesday under a drive to shore up strategic firms as well as public faith in its banking system during an economic crisis deepened by Western sanctions.

Russian-Chinese energy partnership gaining momentum

Dubai Shares Lead Gulf Declines as Oil Rout Extends Into 2015

Despite lower crude oil prices, U.S. crude oil production expected to grow in 2015

Last year was an ugly one for the U.S. energy sector, and while the first trading day of 2015 pointed to continued weakness in oil, investors are starting to look to when the sector might start to recover.

Ali al-Naimi, the oil minister of Saudi Arabia, was in no mood to address reporters at Opec’s November meeting, refusing to offer more than a few words after the cartel decided to hold output at 30m barrels a day.

Russia's decision to redirect the South Stream pipeline toward Turkey came as a shock to many European nations. The European Union's attempts to bargain more concessions from Russians by being intractable on various technical aspects had the opposite effect. Those who pinned their hopes on the project as a source of energy stability were left puzzled and discontented. Although Moscow's move can be interpreted in many ways, it fits into Russia's larger strategy in contemporary international politics.

Turkey is on its way to becoming the main hub for energy in Europe due to the recent introduction of the Turk Stream in place of South Stream. The elevation of the country's role became feasible after a series of major infrastructure projects that will certainly make Turkey the corridor for the supply of gas into the EU for the coming decades.

U.S. oil and gas companies have been an engine of growth through much of an otherwise lackluster economic expansion, providing steady employment, solid wages and fierce competition for workers across wide swaths of the country.

China wants relations with Vietnam to proceed along a "correct path", a visiting senior Chinese leader said, vowing to improve mutual trust, amid tension between the neighbours over competing claims in the South China Sea.

EIA estimates that members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), excluding Iran, will earn about $700 billion in revenue from net oil exports in 2014, a 14% decrease from 2013 earnings and the lowest earnings for the group since 2010. OPEC earnings declined in 2014 largely for two reasons: decreases in the amount of OPEC oil exports and lower oil prices, with the 2014 average for Brent crude oil projected to be 8% below the average 2013 price.