Low oil prices that threaten producers' profits may be a boon in one way, as they force service companies to keep prices low for the drill bits, cement and piping for oil extraction, even if two of the largest providers of such products merge.
Energy
Saudis block OPEC output cut, sending oil price plunging
Saudi Arabia blocked calls on Thursday from poorer members of the OPEC oil exporter group for production cuts to arrest a slide in global prices, sending benchmark crude plunging to a fresh four-year low.
Saudi, Russia pre-OPEC talks yield no oil output cut
Impromptu talks between Saudi Arabia, fellow OPEC member Venezuela and oil powers Russia and Mexico yielded no agreement on Tuesday on how to address a growing oil glut, ending without any plan to cut output despite a collapse in prices.
U.S. government working to renew oil agreement with Israel
The United States is in the midst of renewing its 35-year-old commitment to supply Israel with oil in emergency situations after the pact expired on Tuesday, a U.S. State Department official said.
Coal mine accident in northern China kills 24: Xinhua
A coal mine fire in China's northern Liaoning province has killed 24 workers and left 52 injured, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday, underscoring the poor safety record of the world's biggest coal producing country.
Latest News
Backers of the Keystone XL oil pipeline hope a vote in the U.S. Senate late on Tuesday will send a bill to the desk of President Barack Obama.
A widening corruption scandal at state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA may change the country forever, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said on Sunday in her first public remarks since a sweeping police operation last week.
More than a year ago, U.S. regulators quietly gave a small company permission to export lightly processed oil known as condensate - a previously unreported ruling that could further strengthen the hand of big energy companies pushing hard to chip away at a 40-year-old ban on domestic crude exports.
The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives approved the Keystone XL pipeline on Friday, but a similar measure struggled to get enough support in the Senate and President Barack Obama indicated he might use his veto if the bill does get through Congress.
The oil market has entered a new era with lower Chinese economic growth and booming U.S. shale output, making a return soon to high prices unlikely, the West's energy watchdog said on Friday.
Ukraine will be forced to buy coal from Russia to get through the winter, a serious setback to the country's efforts to lessen energy dependence on its powerful neighbor, Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuri Prodan said on Wednesday.
An oil field in southwest Libya has closed down, officials said on Sunday, becoming the third oil facility in the chaotic country to shut within a week.
A solar eclipse in March next year will be an unprecedented test of European electricity grids because of the massive increase in solar power production on the continent, French power grid RTE said on Friday.
Unfazed by slumping oil prices and battering in the stock market, firms that supply sand and guar gum for shale oil and gas companies are not ready yet to call an end to a four-year boom spurred by hydraulic fracturing technology.
