"The research aims to lower the production costs of bio-oils and expand the suite of biofuels produced and available in the United States."
The US Department of Energy said at its "Biomass 2008: Fueling Our Future" conference in Alexandria, Virginia. The DOE plans to award up to $7 million over the next two years to improve the way food is converted to biomass to advance clean and affordable biofuels. DOE said it anticipates selecting five to seven projects, each of which will be required to come up with 20% of the project cost.

"The ministry has proposed a significant reduction in the overall tax burden for the oil industry."
Russian Finance minister Alexei Kudrin said. Russia's Industry and Energy Ministry wants to see oil sector taxes cut significantly as the country looks to stem the recent slowdown in production growth. Finance minister Alexei Kudrin last month said his ministry planned to ease the tax burden on the oil sector by Rb100 billion/year ($4.2 billion) from 2009, but the energy ministry plans involve tax cuts on a much bigger scale, the representative said.

Updated: April 18, 2008