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According to a new analysis the US now holds more oil reserves than Saudi Arabia and Russia, the first time this has happened. The crux though will be whether the US shale industry can access the finance to carry on exploiting shale. And that remains to be seen.

If you read the news yesterday you would be forgiven for missing something momentous. When the definitive book about the oil age is finally written, yesterday will be marked as significant.

They came. They talked. They talked some more. They failed to reach a deal. And so the turmoil within the global oil industry continues.

Imagine you went on a weekend gambling tip to Las Vegas and played roulette, and that you carried on betting on black and yet every time the ball ended up landing on red.

Eventually what goes down, must come up. And to the relief of everyone in the oil industry, the global energy watchdog, the International Energy Agency (IEA) believes that there are signs that oil prices "might have bottomed out.”

The low oil price continues to cause carnage with the oil industry and increasingly once-untouchable US shale companies. Indeed, the Saudi strategy to kneecap the American fracking industry looks not only like it is paying off, but will not be reversed anytime soon.

The big beasts of the global oil industry will gather today at one of the most important events in their calendar – the IHS CERAWeek conference in Houston, which is often dubbed the Davos of the energy industry.

Written anywhere but the Financial Times, an article on the future of the oil industry might just pass you by.

Earlier this week, a little glimpse of hope for the oil industry concerning a respite in the oil price plunge all but vanished after it emerged that a “make or break” meeting over the weekend between key OPEC players had ended with no agreement on cutting production.

Oil giant BP sent shock-waves through the industry this morning with what has been described as a “jaw-dropping” loss.