Shell, Argentina’s YPF and Houston-based APA Corp are among the companies awarded licenses. Ancap estimates the potential oil and gas in place is around 20 billion barrels

Easing sanctions has been a carrot held out in the past by the U.S., but which so far has resulted in very few authorizations, including one to Chevron Corp that has allowed the firm to expand operations in Venezuela and export its oil to the United States since November

Britain committed to granting hundreds of licences for North Sea oil and gas extraction as part of efforts to become more energy independent

China National Petroleum Co (CNPC) said that it plans to produce new shale oil from formations within the existing Daqing oil field area that will help replenish production in decrease of that site

Saudi Arabia shipped 6.1 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil in September, slightly above August levels, and kept output steady at 8.974 million bpd last month, an industry source familiar with the matter said

Ecuador’s government will allow private companies to import and sell some fuels for industrial and commercial use, ending a monopoly state-owned Petroecuador had in the sector, the energy ministry said

Venezuela’s state-run PDVSA is preparing to recover a portion of the oil output lost in recent months by boosting crude blending operations at its main producing region, the Orinoco Belt

State oil company Saudi Aramco has discovered two new oil and gas fields in the northern regions, the kingdom’s energy minister said

The move will provide partial relief to widespread fuel shortages in the once-prosperous OPEC nation, whose 1.3 million- bpd refining network is mostly halted because of years of underinvestment and lack of maintenance

The seventeenth round of bidding was scheduled to take place in November this year, while the eighteenth round was slated for 2021