Iran's oil and gas reserves have risen by half a billion barrels and five trillion cubic feet respectively with the discovery of new onshore oil and gas fields in the south and west of the country, an Iranian daily quoted a senior oil official as saying.

The Dow Chemical Company announced that sales in Q1 of 2011 hit US$14.7 billion, a 20 per cent increase compared with the same period last year.

Nine of the world's leading oil and gas companies – BG Group, BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Petrobras, Shell, Statoil and Total – announced the launch of the Subsea Well Response Project (SWRP), an initiative designed to enhance the industry's capability to respond to subsea well control incidents.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) cut its global oil demand growth forecast for this year, due to persistent high oil prices and lower growth projections for developed economies.

A new report by Bank of America Merrill Lynch forecasts that oil prices could drop below US$100 per barrel in the second half of 2011.