Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell plans to increase cost savings to $4.5b following its $54b acquisition last February of BG Group, which Chief Executive Officer, Ben van Beurden, said will make it the best oil company investment, ahead of Exxon Mobil.

Brazil’s troubled state-run oil company Petrobras announced a beefed up voluntary layoff program that could affect up to 12,000 jobs amid intense efforts to cut costs.

Eni plans to cut investments and sell down stakes to help it prop up dividends. Company's CEO said the disposals will be mainly through the dilution of stakes in recent discoveries, picking out gas fields in Mozambique and Egypt as prime candidates.

Gulf oil producers are delaying some field maintenance until next year to keep production high and reduce costs, forecasting weaker oil prices in 2016.

The largest oil workers union in Brazil has announced that it will begin a strike against Petrobras on Sunday, Asia Shipping Media reported. The workers are striking to protest austerity measures being implemented at the massive oil giant.