Boosting its status as one of the top oil producers, China has struck its biggest oil discovery in four decades in Bohai Bay having a reserve of one billion tonnes or about 7.35 billion barrels.

With taxes making up more than half of the selling price of petrol in India and one-third of diesel, a parliamentary panel has asked the government to reduce rates of duties and taxes on the two fuel.

Japanese PM Shinzo Abe proposed a plan to Saudi Arabia to let the country use part of the state-owned oil storage tanks in Okinawa Prefecture in exchange for a preferential right to purchase the oil reserves there in case of emergency.

On Wednesday, April 25, the EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs and European MPs adopted a joint statement, urging Russia to stop using its energy as a political weapon and resume oil supplies to Lithuania. The statement also says that Russia and the European Union are mutually dependent on energy, and that majority of problems arise from political disagreements.

The European Union has said diversifying energy supplies and transit routes is one of its most urgent priorities. However, analysts say the EU needs to act fast if it wants to secure direct access to Central Asian oil and gas -- and warn that Russia is purposely attempting to undermine some of the EU's key initiatives.

Since the 1950s, oil has been the dominant source of energy in the world. The cheap supply of oil has been the engine for economic growth in the western world. Since future oil demand is expected to increase, the question to what extent future production will be available is important.

Oil prices continued to soar on Friday as the political standoff between Britain and Iran over the detainment of 15 marines and sailors hardened, raising fears of interruptions to the oil supply through Iran.

The inauguration of the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline is an important step towards energy security and diversification of energy resources, RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian told a news conference in IA Regnum's press center today.