Iran has a contingency strategy to survive without oil revenues, and Tehran will stop oil exports if Western sanctions, which appear to be having an effect, get any tighter, Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said Oct. 23, Reuters reported.

Russian state-operated oil firm Rosneft will produce 5 percent of global oil after it acquires TNK-BP, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin said Oct. 23, RIA Novosti reported.

Estonia's government should decline involvement in the second phase of the Nord Stream gas pipeline project, Estonian Defense Minister Urmas Reinsalu said in a letter last week to Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet, Estonian Public Broadcasting reported Oct. 23.

Oil firm BP will sell its 50 percent stake in TNK-BP to Russian firm Rosneft in exchange for $17.1 billion in cash and a 12.84 percent stake in Rosneft, the BBC reported Oct. 22.

British oil company BP has not yet reached an agreement on the sale of its 50 percent stake in Russian oil firm TNK-BP to state-run Rosneft, a BP statement on Oct. 22 said, Reuters reported.

Rosneft has agreed to the terms of a deal to buy BP's half of its TNK-BP Russian venture, according to people familiar with the talks, Bloomberg reported Oct. 21.

South Sudan expects its oil exports to return to the market in 90 days, South Sudanese Oil Minister Stephen Dhieu Dau said Oct. 18, Reuters reported.

ExxonMobil is looking to end its contract to develop Iraq's West Qurna-1 oil field, reportedly due to concerns over the project's profitability, U.S. diplomatic sources said Oct. 18, Reuters reported. Baghdad has asked companies that signed contracts with the Kurdistan Regional Government, including ExxonMobil, to cancel the contracts (which Baghdad considers illegal) or pull out of Iraq entirely.

Iranian private oil firms will sue the European Union over sanctions against oil trade with Iran, an informed source said, Fars News Agency reported Oct. 17.

Paraguay will begin exploring for hydrocarbons in the country's Chaco region in December 2013, an oil consultant said Oct. 17 after meeting Oct. 16 with President Federico Franco, Mercopress reported.