OPEC

International Energy Agency warns of "nasty surprises" to oil prices if OPEC production quotas are obeyed.

Extra oil demand from India, following cut backs from Iranian imports on sanction woes, will help push prices back up in H2 this year, say analysts

Oil ministers at Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries reveal conflicting opinions on restricting oil output to slow falling prices.

Opec and IEA reports show oil production and supplies increasing as demand growth steadies, which could ease prices in 2012.

British gas prices fell on fears of slump in demand as much as 13 percent on Thursday below the seasonal norms and also due to weak global economic data, which drew down the wider energy complex, including British gas futures.

Iran has called the EU's ban on purchases of oil and the freezing of assets of the country's central bank an "illogical and unfair" move.

The EU runs the risk of shooting itself in the foot if it imposes sanctions on oil from Iran, since it is reliant on crude from Tehran to help power struggling economies.

Venezuelan-born militant Ilich Ramirez Sanchez - dubbed "Carlos the Jackal"- will go on trial in Paris on Monday charged with terrorism. The self-styled Cold War revolutionary is accused of terrorist bombings in France in 1982 and 1983 that killed 11 and injured more than 100 people.

As rebel forces continue the manhunt for fugitive leader Muammar Gaddafi in Libya's desert triangle, reports emerging said that more than 200 armoured vehicles possibly sheltering Gaddafi and his sons had crossed into Niger, with sources saying the colonel could be heading for Burkina Faso.