Bloomberg Royal Dutch Shell Plc stepped up its share buyback program as cash flow surged on higher crude prices, even as profit fell slightly short of expectations. Cash flow from operations including working capital movements was $12.09 billion in the third quarter, the highest since 2014. The company said it will repurchase $2.5 billion of shares up to January 28, …

Bloomberg Encana Corp. agreed to buy US shale producer Newfield Exploration Co. in its largest-ever acquisition, inflaming investors’ ire by reversing course on a strategy of slimming down its oil and gas portfolio. The $5.5 billion purchase will give Encana positions in the Stack and Scoop shale fields in Oklahoma, the Bakken region of North Dakota and the Uinta play …

Bloomberg Russian oil production moved closer to an all-time high before the nation meets with OPEC partners to discuss future supply. The country’s crude and condensate output averaged 11.412 million barrels a day last month, according to data from the Energy Ministry’s CDU-TEK unit released. Th-at’s about 160,000 barrels a day more than two years ago, before Russia agreed to …