Shell spends $400 mln in recent weeks on renewables, power. Royal Dutch Shell has spent over $400 million on a range of acquisitions in recent weeks, from solar power to electric car charging points, cranking up its drive to expand beyond its oil and gas business and reduce its carbon footprint…
Brent reaches $71.20, highest since December 2014; U.S. crude inventories fall for a record 10th straight week. Oil hit $71 a barrel on Thursday for the first time since 2014, supported by OPEC-led supply curbs, a record-breaking run of declines in U…
The world's top oil companies are expected to generate more cash in 2018 than at any other time this decade after three painful years of cuts, but it isn't party time yet.The shift in sentiment has been rapid as crude prices have risen by…
As U.S. oil output is poised to overtake Saudi Arabia, Venezuelan oil output is at 30-year low - and could fall further. Global oil markets are tightening quickly on falling supply from Venezuela, which posted 2017's biggest unplanned output fall and could see a further decline in 2018…
Venezuela's oil production fell nearly 13 percent last year according to figures released by OPEC on Thursday, hitting a 28-year annual low that suggested a deepening economic crisis and increased chances of a debt default.The South American country produced 2…
Consultants who were active in the exploration and production sector sector in 2013, but not currently working due to the cutbacks in the industry, would take a day rate that is 39% lower, according to OPC Consultant Market Report 2016. OPC's…
The pace and timing of an oil price recovery depends on four key drivers, according to McKinsey Energy Insights (MEI), a data and analytics firm. The firm forecasts that it will take more than six months for the oil markets to fully rebalance…
Exploration and production companies have been hesitating to engage in greenfield projects amid the current market downturn, resulting in the lowest offshore project commitment since 1998, according to Norwegian analysts Rystad Energy. Only…
Oil major Shell has said it is to cut around 475 jobs from its UK and Ireland business by the end of this year as it further reduces its cost base. The firm has already announced more than 10,000 jobs cuts globally, including some 2800…
Wood Group PSN says it is to reduce rates paid to about a third of its UK-based contractors by about 9% 'in response to continuing cost and efficiency challenges affecting the UK North Sea oil and gas sector.' Wood Group, which already…
BP has reported a 91% drop in Q4 2015 earnings, revealing the impact of the lowest oil prices in more than a decade on the business, and says oil prices look set to 'continue to be challenging in the near term.' The firm's full year underlying profit was a loss of $5…
Ratings and investor service firm Moody's has lowered its price estimate for Brent crude in 2016 to US$33/bbl, from $43/bbl, and suggests crude 'will remain well below $50/bbl through 2018.' West Texas Intermediate has also been lowered to $33/bbl…
Some US$380 billion worth of upstream oil and gas projects have been put on hold as a result of the fall in oil prices, according to new research by analysts Wood Mackenzie. The Edinburgh based firm says the last six months of 2015 saw…
In contrast to 2015, upstream oil and gas deal activity is set to ramp up this year regardless of what happens to the oil price, according to Wood Mackenzie's M&A outlook for 2016. Should oil prices stay low, companies will be forced to sell assets and merge businesses: to free up capital…
2015 was a tough year. Spending and headcounts have been slashed across the industry and the specter of bankruptcy is an all too common concern. Recent trends in commodity prices have not helped. Late December saw Moody’s downgrade its…