An asthma patient in Lebanon was forced to plug in his oxygen concentrator at a mosque Wednesday, its imam said, as growing power cuts cripple life in the crisis-wracked country.

New York oil rose to near a seven-year pinnacle on Tuesday after OPEC+ crude producers failed to agree on lifting output, despite demand soaring along with the global economic recovery, sparking fresh inflationary fears.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for August delivery hit $76.98 per barrel, a level last seen in November 2014.

After failing last week to agree on crude oil output levels, the 23 members of the OPEC+ group of producers called off a meeting planned on Monday to overcome the impasse, a source close to the alliance told AFP. 

Saudi Arabia is engaged in a rare public spat with its Emirati allies over a critical oil output deal, escalating tensions ahead of another meeting of the OPEC+ alliance on Monday.

The United Arab Emirates has bitterly opposed a proposed deal by the alliance of oil producing countries to raise production, causing a stalemate that could derail efforts to curb rising crude prices amid a fragile post-pandemic recovery.

Member of the Syndicate of Station Owners, George al-Braks, confirmed on Monday that "the indications point to an agreement to unload the cargo of (gasoline) ships parked at the Lebanese shores today.”

He assured that gasoline will be distributed, which will lead to an “increase in the number of stations that will operate normally, and a decrease in the queues that we have been seeing in the streets lately."

In a village in Lebanon's scenic Chouf Mountains, 69-year-old Chafik Mershad pulls out a massive rectangular guestbook and reads out despairingly the date when he hosted his last visitor: Nov. 16, 2019.

A month earlier, anti-government protests had exploded across the country over taxes and a deteriorating currency crisis. Amid such uncertainty, few people visited his guesthouse. Then came the coronavirus and subsequent government-imposed lockdowns. The guesthouse officially closed its doors in February 2020. A year and a half later, he still has no plans to reopen amid the country's current financial meltdown.

Hospitals in Lebanon are warning that worsening power cuts and fuel shortages are gravely impacting the health sector.

Asharq al-Awsat newspaper has quoted the head of the private hospital syndicate Suleiman Haroun as saying that hospitals had enough fuel stocks to operate generators for just two days, instead of two weeks.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Sunday warned that spending from the central bank's obligatory reserve of foreign currencies "has started."

“The President, the caretaker prime minister, the finance minister and the central bank governor bear the responsibility for eradicating what is left of depositors’ money,” Geagea said in a tweet.

The United Arab Emirates on Sunday criticized the current oil output deal among OPEC+ alliance members as unjust, escalating a row that could derail the energy market's post-pandemic recovery.

Lebanon's medicine importers Sunday said they had run out of hundreds of essential drugs and warned of further shortages if the cash-strapped central bank did not unblock funds.