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 worlds 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 industrys 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.

Saudi Arabia said that the oil market was oversupplied and revealed last month that the kingdom had slashed its March output by some 700,000 bpd, Saudi Arabias oil minister Ali al-Naimi announced.