Oil prices were little changed and trading only slightly down early on Monday while the market is waiting for the OPEC+ group to begin a third day of meetings to try to reach a consensus about oil production levels in the coming months.

OPEC+ much-awaited resumption of talks today has now been delayed, indicating that Saudi Arabia and the UAE have not been able to broker any agreement after the UAE opposed production cut proposals as “unfair” and the Saudis responded with tariff amendments designed to hit out as its political ally and economic rival.

Oil market participants may have focused too much on the surging U.S. fuel demand with states re-opening, possibly ignoring the still lurking COVID threats to demand elsewhere, energy analyst Vandana Hari, founder and chief executive officer of Vanda Insights, told CNBC in a recent interview.

The unsuccessful attempts by OPEC+ to reach a deal on output cuts increase the risk of creating a supply squeeze in an already tight market, which could potentially send oil prices sharply higher. Consumers are beginning to keenly feel the effects of higher oil prices, with 4th of July gasoline prices in the U.S. set to be the highest for the holiday weekend in seven years while prices are forecast to rise even higher later in the summer.

A long-delayed deal between Saudi Arabia’s flagship oil company, Saudi Aramco, and Indian conglomerate, Reliance Industries, looks closer to going ahead following the recent appointment of Aramco chairman, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, as an independent director on the board of Reliance. Two or three years ago when the idea for the tie-up based around both companies’ oil-to-chemicals operations made some sense from both sides, now it makes great sense from Aramco’s side and no sense at all from Reliance’s, but wider geopolitical pressures mean that it is likely to go ahead anyway.

According to TASS news agency, on the night of July 4, local time, a huge explosion occurred in the Caspian waters near Azerbaijan and caused a fire. The scene was captured by residents on the shore and quickly spread in the media and the Internet.

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Despite announcements last year that it is striving for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, Norway has now said it will go full steam ahead in its oil ventures over the coming decades. While neighboring Denmark plans to end all North Sea operations by 2050, Norway, Western Europe’s largest oil producer, continues to offer exploration and production contracts to several companies, as it intends to develop its already well-established oil industry further.

India’s oil demand is expected to get back to normal by the end of the year, following months of uncertainty in the face of a third wave of Covid-19 infections.

The oil and gas industry is embracing new technologies to save time and costs and, most recently, to reduce the carbon footprint of its supply chain as the energy sector is under increased pressure to reward shareholders while helping to fight climate change. Along with artificial intelligence, machine learning, digital twins, and robotics, the world’s biggest oil and gas firms and oilfield services providers are betting on 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, to streamline operations, cut costs and save time, and reduce emissions from spare parts manufacturing.

Deliberations on which benchmark presents the best opportunities to trade just never seem to stop. The gradual decline of all erstwhile champions of North Sea output champions has compelled pricing agencies to include newer and newer grades into the Brent basket to ensure the traded benchmark’s liquidity.

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