American supermajor ConocoPhillips is in talks to acquire rival shale company, Concho Resources, in what represents a bold bet during a time when the industry is in a historically low period.

US oil output is predicted to fall in October by 68,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) after output is set to decrease from seven major shale formations.

Saudi Aramco will soon finish the shale-production facilities it is building in northern Saudi Arabia.

OPEC lost $76b in 2016 due to low oil prices caused by rising US oil production.

Oil hovered around $46 per barrel in New York, back to levels last seen before the OPEC deal to cut production.

Rigs targeting crude in the US rose by 9 to 325 in the last week of May and demand come closer into balance, Baker Hughes said adding that explorers have idled more than 1,000 oil rigs since the start of last year.

French Energy Minister, Segolene Royal, said she is investigating legal means to ban the import of shale gas from the United States because France has banned shale gas exploration using hydraulic fracking for environmental reasons.

The London-based explorer BP and China National Petroleum Corp. have signed a Production Sharing Contract (PSC) for shale gas exploration, development and production in the Neijiang-Dazu block in the Sichuan Basin, China.

The US could receive its first Oman crude cargo in three years as the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose above Omani oil futures, Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME). The prices for Middle East futures have gone down in the wake of the removal of the sanctions on Iran.

Oil and gas company Apache Corp has rejected a takeover approach from an unidentified party.