Oil continued its rally as the organization of major producers decided to extend limits on output through April, waiting for substantial proofs for a recovery in demand, Reuters said. Many analysts had expected a small production increase as the price of oil has risen 30% since the start of the year on hopes that the pandemic will ease, allowing for an economic rebound that should increase energy consumption.

OPEC sees the oil market’s outlook as positive in general and the headwinds of uncertainty from last year continue to abate, the group’s secretary general said as oil producers set to discuss quotas on Thursday as demand increases.

Royal Dutch Shell has set out plans to boost the use of nature-based carbon offsets and carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, two climate solutions in their infancy but seen crucial to controlling global warming, Reuters reported. Both technologies can mitigate the greenhouse gas emissions Shell and its customers cannot eliminate on the path to the group’s 2050 net zero carbon target.

Royal Dutch Shell and renewables firm Eneco, owned by Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp, will provide Amazon.com Inc’s European facilities with electricity from an offshore wind farm, the companies said in a joint said on Monday.

US President Joe Biden slammed the long disputed Keystone XL oil pipeline in his first day in office. The project was intended to link US and Canada. With one of his first orders Biden revoked the pipeline’s permit, Reuters reported.

US president-elect Joe Biden vowed to revoke the permit for Keystone XL pipeline multi-billion project, AP reported. The project was one of the pearls in the crown of the outgoing president Donald Trump.

The US State Department addressed European companies and reaffirmed threat to impose sanctions targeted at everyone involved in the construction Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, Reuters reported.

The surge of Covid-19 in Europe provoked new lockdowns and thus limited the travel options. The latter pressed down the expected recovery of the fuel market. Most of Europe is now under strictest restrictions, according to the Oxford stringency index quoted by Reuters, which assesses indicators such as school and workplace closures, and travel bans. In November only four European countries had imposed similar lockdowns.

Saudi Arabia has officially declared plans to reduce pumping of crude oil by some one million barrels per day to support the level of international prices, AP reported. Thus Saudi companies will take extra burden amid on-going plans to boost OPEC output by 500,000.

Azerbaijan started commercial natural gas exports to Europe via the US-backed Southern Gas Corridor, helping the region to diversify supplies away from Russia, Bloomberg reported. Gas pumped from the BP Plc-led Shah Deniz deposit in the Caspian Sea began flowing into Italy, Greece and Bulgaria on Thursday, BP and Azerbaijan’s state energy company Socar said in a joint statement.