Vienna - The price for oil produced by the Organization of

Petroleum minister Murli Deora on Saturday announced that the government is likely to cut petrol rates up to Rs 5 per litre, and a reduction of Rs 3 a litre in diesel and Rs 25 per LPG cylinder prices in the coming days.

According to sources, Oil companies have minimized the losses on petrol and diesel, as crude oil rates have lowered to $40 per barrel from its peak of $147 a barrel in July previous year.

Prague - An EU official Sunday signed a deal that allows international monitors to observe Russian gas flow via Ukraine, opening way for a renewal of gas deliveries to Europe, Czech officials said.

Speaking to reporters after returning from his mission in Russia and Ukraine, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said that European Commissioner for Energy Andris Piebalgs inked the deal, which was signed earlier by Russian and Ukrainian vice-premiers.

Topolanek said that Russia reiterated its vow to open gas taps as soon as the deal is signed by all parties and observers are in their place as defined by the agreement.

Vienna  - The Austrian government protested Sunday Bratislava's decision to reopen the Bohunice nuclear power plant complex, which was prompted by the Russian-Ukrainian gas dispute that has left Slovakia without energy reserves.

"Recommissioning the unsafe Bohunice reactor cannot be accepted," Environment Minister Nikolaus Berlakovich said of the decision to power up the reactor that had been closed at the end of last year.

"Contracts must hold within a community. Shutting off the plant was one of the fundamental conditions for (Slovakia's) entry (into the European Union) , and it cannot simply be cancelled now," Berlakovich said in a statement.

Moscow/Kiev  - Ukraine joined Russia to approve a European Union initiative for international observers to monitor Russian gas deliveries via Ukraine, raising hopes of a possible end to a Kremlin embargo on energy supplies to Europe.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko signed the deal early Sunday, Interfax news agency reported.

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, arrived in Ukraine on Saturday evening in an attempt to get Kiev to sign a deal aimed at ending Russia's natural gas embargo to Europe.

Bratislava  - The Slovakian government decided in an extraordinary session Saturday night to reopen its Jaslovske Bohunice nuclear power plant closed at the beginning of the year as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian gas dispute.

"I am aware that we are violating our accession agreement with the European Union with this decision, and I accept the full political responsibility for it," Prime Minister Robert Fico said during a press conference broadcast on TV news channel TA3.