Editor 09:25 pm | Russian state-controlled oil producer OAO Rosneft  Wednesday announced an unexpected second-quarter net loss of 8 billion Russian rubles (248 million dollars) on the back of lower crude prices, the ending of tax breaks for its giant Vankor field, and foreign exchange losses because of exchange rate volatility. A Dow Jones…

Editor 06:22 pm | Devon Energy Corp. agreed to sell 30% of its interest in about 650,000 net acres in the oil-rich Cline and Midland-Wolfcamp Shales in West Texas to Japan’s Sumitomo Corp. in a deal valued at about $1.4 billion. The Oklahoma City exploration-and-production company also reported a drop in second-quarter earnings that…

nogtec 03:29 pm | French oil giant Total S.A. said Tuesday it has acquired an interest in two oil exploration areas in Iraq’s Kurdish north from Marathon Oil Corp., joining U.S. oil majors Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. in the self-rule region. The deal threatens to worsen tensions between the Kurds and Iraqi…

nogtec 03:20 pm | British oil giant BP Plc reported disappointing second-quarter earnings on a drop in productivity and lower natural gas and oil prices in the U.S., topped off by nearly $5 billion in write-offs. Shares of BP fell more than 4% Tuesday morning as investors digested the worse-than-expected decline in quarterly earnings…

Editor 05:11 pm | ExxonMobil Corp. said Monday it has started drilling for natural gas in a key part of Papua New Guinea to support its $15.7 billion PNG LNG project and possibly underpin its expansion. Exxon has commenced drilling operations at the Hides natural gas field, located in the impoverished nation’s highlands and…

Staff Writer 02:18 pm | French oil and gas group Total SA is preparing to sell its gas pipeline unit TIGF, three people familiar with the plan said, to help fund expansion in the more lucrative exploration and production business. The deal could raise about 2.8 billion euros (2.2 billion pounds), the people said, giving…