Several changes in the beliefs around electric vehicles are needed to ensure that growth in EV sales and usage continues, writes Monica Araya

Irish explorer Providence Resources looks to be close to a deal with a rig contractor as it continues to ready itself for a return to drilling in Irish waters next year.

Royal Dutch Shell, which is on the brink of completing the oil industry’s largest deal in a decade, said fourth-quarter profit fell 44%, after the rout in crude prices deepened.

For Europe’s biggest oil companies, $60 is the magic number. BP, one of the first companies to predict a prolonged price downturn, has “reset” its business to generate surplus cash flow, with oil at about $60 a barrel by 2017.

Royal Dutch Shell is to axe 6,500 jobs this year and step up spending cuts, responding to an extended period of lower oil prices which contributed toa 37% drop in the oil and gas group’s second-quarter profits.

Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to buy smaller rival BG Group for £47bn (€65bn) in the first major energy industry merger in more than a decade, closing the gap on market leader ExxonMobil after a plunge in prices.