The White House has renewed 15-year-old sanctions on Sudan that restrict U.S. trade and investment with Sudan and block the assets of the Sudanese government and certain officials, according to a Nov. 2 U.S. State Department statement, Reuters reported.

Syria has asked Turkish company Aksa to resume electricity supplies, Turkish Minister of Energy Taner Yildiz said Nov. 2, Trend reported, citing TRT Haber TV.

Turkey has signed a $350 million deal with Iraq to drill 40 oil wells in the southern Iraqi Basra area, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said Nov. 2, Reuters reported.

Russian natural gas firm Gazprom on Nov. 2 said its second-quarter profit halved after the company returned $4 billion to European customers who said they were charged too much, Reuters reported.

Unemployment in South Africa increased to 25.5 percent in the third quarter, as an additional 197,000 workers lost their jobs, according to Statistics South Africa, Reuters reported Nov. 1.

BP will drill 17 new exploration wells in Libya, a senior company official said Nov. 1, Reuters reported.

Two miners were shot and killed Oct. 31 during clashes with security guards at a mine near Dannhauser in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province, police said, the South African Press Association reported.

Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russian energy firm Gazprom, has launched a project to develop shale oil production in Russia, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said in a statement, RIA Novosti reported Oct. 30.