SINGAPORE (Commodity Online) : Global oil prices eased below $82 a barrel in Asian trade Thursday mainly on a strong dollar amid expectations for OPEC to keep pumping above quotas in the second quarter.

CARACAS (Commodity Online) : Latin America’s largest crude oil producer, Venezuela it will create a joint venture between state energy company Petroleos de Venezuela and National Oil Consortium to pump as much as 450,000 barrels of crude a day.

MOSCOW (Commodity Online): Russia’s energy giant Gazprom’s oil producing arm, Gazprom Neft said on Wednesday that net profit in its US GAAP dipped sharply by 35% year-on-year in 2009 to $3.01 billion due to lower price for the petroleum products.

ACCRA (Commodity Online) : The dark continent of Africa might witness a drastic change in its crude oil production landscape as a number of new oilfields come online nowadays.

MUMBAI (Commodity Online): The total trading turnover in India’s commodity bourses witnessed a 50% surge in value terms, said the country’s commodity trading regulator Forward Markets Commission (FMC) on Thursday.