Bangladesh has discovered oil in two old gas fields in the country's northeastern region with an extractable reserve worth $5.5 billion, the chairman of state-owned Petrobangla said Monday.

Hussain Monsur told AFP the two finds at Kailashtila and Sylhet contain proven reserves of 137 million barrels of low sulphur crude oil, of which 55 million barrels can be lifted commercially.

Low sulphur, or "sweet", crude oil is highly sought after and is more easily processed into gasoline than high sulphur crude.

Bangladesh has struck its first oil, in two gas fields in the northeastern Sylhet region, the chairman of the state-run Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation (Petrobangla) said on Sunday.

"This is first time that we have found economically viable oil resources, estimated at about 153 million barrels, in the two gas fields, 280 km (175 miles) from the capital," Mohammad Hussain Monsur told reporters, adding that production could begin within a year.

India and the United Arab Emirates on Friday discussed the prospects of closer energy ties including more import of oil, which could partly offset declining purchases from Iran, and investment in the downstream sector such as refineries.

While visiting External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and his visiting UAE counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan discussed investments in India, officials met on a parallel track to build on last year's 16 per cent increase in import of crude from UAE principalities.

Britain's climate policies can help shield the economy from oil and gas price shocks triggered by external factors such as the Arab Spring, an analysis commissioned by the government showed on Friday.

Energy price spikes can often dent economic growth, business investment and employment, as witnessed during the global financial crisis in mid-2008 when oil rose to nearly $150 (95 pounds) per barrel, research group Oxford Economics said in a report.

Canadian government moves to quicken economic gains by shortening environmental reviews for big energy projects and de-clawing some oil industry critics are on the right track, a senior executive at Canada's largest independent oil explorer said on Wednesday.

John Langille, vice-chairman of Canadian Natural Resources Ltd, said he believes there has been too much compromise with those who do not want projects to move forward under any circumstances, and that has led to overly cumbersome rreviews for developers.

While many government officials nervously await the outcome of the November elections and speculate as to its implications for the cleantech sector, one federal department is likely to be relatively unaffected regardless of the outcome: Defense.

According to panelists at the recent "Mission Critical: Clean Energy and the U.S. Military" event in Denver, the military's growing commitment to reducing its use of fossil fuel, for both national security and economic reasons, will not waver regardless of who's in charge in the White House or the Congress.

In the aftermath of the recent visit of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and an indication of rising U.S. pressure not to deal with Iran working, the Central Government, on Tuesday, admitted that it had cut the crude oil supplies from Iran by 11 per cent to 15.5 million tonnes this fiscal.

While its Latin American neighbors move forward with national climate laws, Argentina is backsliding on actions to tackle its greenhouse gas emissions as the country struggles to meet energy demand from a fast-growing middle class.

Argentina's GDP grew 7.3 percent last year, driving demand for energy that is overwhelmingly derived from fossil fuels. According to Argentine Institute of Petroleum and Gas (IAPG), energy demand rose 5.1 percent in 2011.

On May 9, the government of Alberta released a study into the extra carbon emitted by crude produced using oil sands instead of more conventional sources. The study, by a unit of California-based Jacobs Engineering Group, found that emissions from oil-sand crude are just 12 percent higher than from regular crude.

But the report was not just about the science. It also sent a political signal to Europe: Canada's fight over oil sands is not done yet.

Canada is acting too slowly to combat climate change and has little chance of achieving its modest 2020 target for cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, Parliament's environmental watchdog said on Tuesday.

The report by Environment Commissioner Scott Vaughan is awkward for the right-of-center Conservative government, which green activists say is more interested in industrial development than in protecting the environment.