Oil extended losses below $48 a barrel amid speculation that US inventories will expand, deepening a global supply glut that’s driven prices to a five-year low.
Futures declined for a fourth day. Stockpiles in the world’s biggest oil-consuming country probably rose by 700,000 barrels last week, a survey showed before a government report.
Oil slumped almost 50% in 2014, the most since the 2008 financial crisis, after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries resisted calls to cut output as it competes with US producers.
Energy services firm Hunting yesterday unveiled plans to sell its ship-broking division to an employee benefit trust (EBT), with a deal expected to be signed in the coming weeks.
City analysts had previously identified EA Gibson Shipbrokers as a “non-core asset” for the FTSE 250 firm, although the timing of the potential sale is understood to be unrelated to the recent plunge in the price of oil.
The company said: “The transaction is expected to complete by the 31 March and is conditional on a number of matters including the management of Gibson finalising structure and funding.
The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) has agreed a £55million settlement with the Bodo community.
Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary has made the payment in respect of two operational spills in 2008.
The SPDC said the compensation will provide an individual payment for those affected who agree to the settlement payment totalling £35million.
A hearing over legal action for access to voice recorder data from accident investigators following a fatal helicopter crash is to be held.
Four people – three men and a woman – died when a Super Puma crashed off Shetland in 2013.
Sarah Darnley, from Elgin, Gary McCrossan, from Inverness, Duncan Munro, from Bishop Auckland, and George Allison, from Winchester, all lost their lives.
Oil and Gas UK chief executive Malcolm Webb said his meeting with Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy was "very positive".
The MP has been on a visit to Aberdeen to meet North Sea industry leaders, offshore trade unions and city councillors amid a continued fall in the global price of oil.
Mr Webb attended a meeting alongside the politician to discuss the current challenges facing the oil and gas industry.
Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy today called on the SNP government to establish a "resilience fund" to support crucial industries in times of crisis.
Mr Murphy was speaking during a visit to Aberdeen to meet North Sea industry leaders, offshore trade unions and city councillors amid a continued fall in the global price of oil.
The Labour MP expressed concern about the "human impact" of redundancies in the energy sector and the wider impact of a downturn on the local economy.
Oil major Chevron has made a significant oil discovery at the Anchor prospect in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Green Canyon block 807 well number two encountered oil pay in multiple Lower Tertiary Wilcox Sands.
It was spudded in August 2014 and drilled to a depth of 33,749 feet.
The Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors (CAODC) has released its 2015 Drilling Activity Forecast, which projects a 10% decrease in activity.
The forecast is that Canadian land-based drilling rigs will drill 10,354 wells next year.
The uncertainty around pipeline construction was a determining factor in the activity outlook.
Two oil and gas firms have estimated a production increase on a project in New Zealand.
Pan Pacific Petroleum and New Zealand Oil and Gas have completed a review of the increase in Tui reserves attributable to the Pateke-4H well.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, will keep a “solid will” and maintain the nation’s stability even with falling crude prices, King Abdullah said in a speech read by his crown prince.
Saudi Arabia will enjoy “safety and stability,” according to a copy of the king’s speech read by Crown Prince Salman Bin Abdulaziz with Abdullah in the hospital for pneumonia.
Greka Drilling has been awarded a $45m contract for further work on a project in China.
The venture will see 30 new LiFaBriC wells in the Shizauang South block in the Shanxi Province of China.
GDF Suez has revealed it has appointed a new finance chief as it plans asset sales of up to $3.6billion within the next few years.
Judith Hartmann, the former chief financial officer at publishing firm Bertelsmann, will take up the role.
DOF Subsea has been given a Letter of Award (LOA) by an international oil company for work in the Asia Pacific region.
The LOA is for an IRM contract which will utilise the Skandi Hawk vessel.
Oil prices have tumbled to their lowest level in nearly six years as a glut in supply coincides with shrinking demand amid fears for world economic growth.
The plunge looks set to prove a boon for consumers as it feeds through to lower petrol costs and depressed inflation - currently at a 12-year low of 1% and expected to fall further - but hurts the prospects of UK-listed companies.
Brent crude today headed close to $51 a barrel, nearing the $50 that has not been seen since May 2009.
The industry is going through what oil workers have described as a crisis period. At the time of writing, the oil price has fallen below $54.
That's less than half the price predicted by the SNP in their White Paper, which formed the economic basis for their independence case.
But more immediate than the politics is the fact the plummeting oil price has resulted in a number of firms cutting the wages of their staff.
SacOil Holdings has started the first phase of its field development operations at its Lagia oil field in Sinai.
The company has contracted Schlumberger through its subsidiary Mena International Petroleum Egypt to conduct the initial phase of development.
It includes the hydraulic stimulation of the Lagia 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 wells specifically targeting the intersected productive productive Nukhul geological formation.
The FTSE 100 Index headed lower for a third session in a row today in a slump driven by sliding oil prices and fears of a Greek exit from the euro.
London’s leading share index had lost 2%, or 130.6 points, in the previous session and was again lower, by about 0.8%, to 6366, as the markets showed little sign of sparking into life after a dismal start so far to 2015.
A well drilled by Lundin Petroleum has come up dry in the Norwegian sea.
The company, through its subsidiary Lundin Norway, had been exploring the hydrocarbon potential of the Kopervik prospect in PL625.
The wildcat well 25/10-12S is located 175km west of Huagesund on the west coast and is 20km northwest of the Johan Sverdrup discovery.
Drilling company Archer has received an early termination notice from Talisman Sinopec Energy UK for its modular rig.
The Archer Emerald had been contracted out by the company in a two-year contract deal worth $96million and was scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2016.
Plexus Holdings has received a £1.5million purchase order from Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP) to provide wellhead systems and services.
The contract, for work on three additional exploration wells, runs until 2016.
The company will supply both HP/HT and standard pressured wellhead and mudline systems and services.
US oil drillers laid down the most rigs in the fourth quarter since 2009. And things are about to get much worse.
The rig count fell by 93 in the three months through December 26, and lost another 17 last week, Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) data show.
About 200 more will be idled over the next quarter as US oil explorers make good on their promises to curb spending, according to Moody’s Corp.
The speed with which the North Sea’s prospects have become engulfed in crisis and doom-laden predictions has taken the world, and not just our own small corner of it, by surprise.
On December 2, Chevron announced that oil and gas production had started at the Jack/St Malo project in the Lower Tertiary trend, deepwater US Gulf of Mexico.
Jack and St Malo are among the largest fields in the US Gulf and were discovered in 2004 and 2003. They are located in Walker Ridge blocks 758, 759, and 678 in more than 2,100m of water, some 435km south-west of New Orleans.
Drilled to a total depth of 8,839m (29,000ft), the Jack-1 exploration well encountered more than 350 feet (107 metres) of net oil sands pay in a Lower Tertiary Trend.
The chief executive of the newly formed Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) has taken up his new role.
Andy Samuel was appointed in November last year following the establishment of the independent body.
Its creation was an integral part of the recommendations made by Sir Ian Wood as part of a review into maximising the UK’s offshore oil and gas resources.
Fighter jets dispatched by Libya’s internationally recognised government bombed a Greek-owned tanker ship at an eastern city controlled by Islamist extremists, killing two crew members and wounding two, Libyan and Greek officials said.
The bombing highlights the chaos that has gripped Libya since its 2011 civil war that deposed and killed dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
Libyan officials apologised for the bombing as the Greek foreign ministry demanded compensation for the victims’ families and punishment for those behind the attack.
