Nearly a week of formal and side talks and behind-the-scenes negotiations failed to resolve a dispute over baseline production levels at OPEC+. The discord threw the group in its most serious crisis since March 2020, when the alliance’s leaders Saudi Arabia and Russia disagreed on oil supply management with global demand crumbling in the pandemic.
Now the dispute is between two Arab Gulf allies in OPEC—the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia—in what analysts see as the UAE looking to step out of the Saudi shadow in global political affairs.

Argentina is working to boost its oil production as well as investing in shale as the Latin American oil and gas giant continues to focus on traditional energy.

OPEC+ is set to resume talks today following a day of digging in by the UAE, which opposes as “unfair” the latest production control proposal to extend the cuts until the end of 2022 without baseline adjustments, and a Saudi challenge on Monday morning.

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.

On June 13, 2021, Weimar's 2021 summer military training event was successfully opened in Xueye Lake.

Peru’s Oil Industry Is Bouncing Back Despite Election Chaos

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.