Saudi Arabia has increased the September prices for crude it sells to Asia by less than forecast, traders said on Thursday, as the world's biggest oil exporter defends its market share amid slowing demand.

The price of a North Sea crude which underpins the Brent oil benchmark has fallen after a supertanker heading to South Korea unexpectedly turned back, leaving supply more ample, traders and analysts said.

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In a windowless conference room in Anchorage, a dozen Royal Dutch Shell employees report on the highest-profile oil project in the multinational’s vast global portfolio.

US Government estimates that over 4 million barrels of oil leaked into the Gulf of MexicoTransocean, one of the companies associated with BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil well disaster, has recovered $735m (£471m) in legal settlements and insurance related to the incident.

Two Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) inspectors are overseeing Shell drilling operations 24/7 in the Chukchi Sea to ensure compliance with federal regulations and safety standards.

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Federal Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq has signed off on Shell Canada's plan for dealing with a potential deep-well blowout on the Shelburne Basin.

A 'back-to-fundamentals' strategy is helping seismic firm Polarcus weather the storm, CEO Rod Starr said this morning.

After slashing spending by $180 billion to deal with one of the worst industry downturns in decades, oil companies are still bleeding cash and slipping further into debt to maintain dividends to shareholders.