SAINT PETERSBERG, Russia, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Amid recent skyrocketing oil prices, the leaders from the group of eight industrialized countries are trying to ease world worries on energy security at their first annual summit in Russia on Saturday.

    Oil prices settled at a record above 76 U.S. dollars a barrel Thursday in a market agitated by escalating violence in the MiddleEast and the threat of supply disruptions there and beyond.

    The price hike will press G8 leaders to make some progress on the high-stakes energy security debate.

    As the summit host, Russian President Vladimir Putin put energy at the top of the official agenda. Putin has chosen energy security not just because it is important in its own right but because it is one of the few areas of global concern in which Russia is still a major player, said analysts.

    Russia holds the world's largest reserves of natural gas and remains the second-largest exporter of oil.

    The Kremlin in this May came under criticism from U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney for using its energy reserves as "tools of intimidation and blackmail," referring to Russia's cut-off of gas supply to its neighboring Ukraine this January.

    On the eve of the summit, the European Union (EU) said that it wants the summit to agree on a set of key principles for the global energy trade.

    Around one quarter of the 25-nation's gas consumption is imported from Russia.

    "This will build real interdependence and mutual trust. And this will create the right climate for long-term investment and energy supplies to flow freely," said Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the EU executive European Commission.

    The G8 includes four individual EU member states -- Germany, Britain, France and Italy -- as well as the United States, Canada and Japan.

    The G8 leaders are expected to sign a conclusion calling for enhancing international energy cooperation. However, Russia's differences with West over energy will not be easily overcome at the summit, warns analysts. Enditem