In a keynote speech to attendees of the 2015 Coiled Tubing & Well Intervention Conference & Exhibition, Richard B. Spears, an oil field services market researcher, says the worst may be yet to come for that market, but a partial recovery also could come sooner than expected.

ConocoPhillips is among energy companies considering asset sales amid depressed oil prices, as it markets gas-producing properties that account for about 20% of its production in Western Canada. Whiting Petroleum has hired a bank to explore a sale of the company, people familiar with the matter said last week. The company is selling oil and gas processing assets in North Dakota, Bloomberg News reported in February.

U.S. crude oil production (including lease condensate) increased during 2014 by 1.2 million barrels per day (bbl/d) to 8.7 million bbl/d, the largest volume increase since recordkeeping began in 1900. On a percentage basis, output in 2014 increased by 16.2%, the highest growth rate since 1940. Most of the increase during 2014 came from tight oil plays in North Dakota, Texas, and New Mexico where hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling were used to produce oil from shale formations.

The U.S. should immediately begin a push to exploit its enormous trove of oil in the Arctic waters off of Alaska, or risk a renewed reliance on imported oil in the future, an Energy Department advisory council says in a study submitted Friday.

Based on financial statements from selected international oil and natural gas companies, spending on upstream investments was 12% lower in fourth-quarter 2014 compared to the same period in 2013. Upstream spending on exploration and development typically accounts for the bulk of these companies' investment expenditures.

Oil markets remained volatile Mar. 24 while analysts anticipated a weekly government inventory report showing another climb in US oil and product supplies. US light, sweet crude prices edged up on Mar. 24 to remain under $48/bbl while Brent prices fell modestly to settle at above $55/bbl.

Investment bankers and analysts entrenched in the oil and gas industry say companies have so far staved off the major negative impacts of the current industry downturn better than previous downturns by acting more proactively and aggressively.

Europe's reliance on imports of natural gas is likely to rise from half to three quarters over the next two decades and Russia will continue to supply around 30 percent of EU needs, BP's chief economist said on Friday.

Schlumberger CEO Paal Kibsgaard said Monday he expects global exploration and production capital expenditures to drop between 10 to 15 percent in 2015.

TAPI faces an uncertain future with the recent oil price fall, ambiguity regarding transit via Afghanistan and an increase in the estimated project cost.

Before Donald Tusk became president of the European Council, the former Polish prime minister had already begun campaigning for a European energy union.

But now, with prices low, the risk of getting busted by Nigeria’s navy now outweighs the get-rich rewards of sabotaging pipelines, stealing oil and smuggling vast quantities of it onto international markets. Indeed, some of these thieves have reverted to plunking fish traps in the waters they helped pollute.

The United States will struggle to follow through on threats to impose deeper sanctions on the Russian energy sector, as European fears over collateral economic damage leave President Barack Obama's administration with diminished options.

The world’s biggest energy groups have sold record amounts of debt this year, taking advantage of historically low interest rates to plug cash shortfalls with borrowing, after a 50 per cent plunge in oil prices.

Could an oil and gas bounce-back loom in America’s near future? During his appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” energy magnate Boone Pickens seems to think so, forecasting prices to rise to $70 per barrel by the end of the year.