Japan, China, India, South Korea and the Philippines have agreed to meet regularly in a bid to enhance energy cooperation in a region with little in the way of oil reserves in the ground or stockpiles to protect from supply disruptions or price spikes.

The five Asian governments would discuss the so-called Asian price premium, joint oil-stockpiling and environmental regulations on energy, said the Korean ministry.

The agreement emerged after the ninth International Energy Forum, a meeting between oil producers and consumers, in Amsterdam at the weekend, South Korea's energy ministry said in a statement.

Benchmark US light crude oil prices, which have risen nearly 40 per cent this year, are hovering above $41 a barrel, near record highs.

The first working-level talks were due to be held in India, but no further details were available, the ministry said. The Asia-Pacific region imports about two-thirds of the oil it consumes and demand has soared led by China and India.

Middle-Eastern producers charge Asian consumers about $1 a barrel premium, compared with western buyers.

"We expect this gathering could bear more fruit than any other energy-related talks in Asia because it includes heavy oil consumers, excluding interests of oil producers," said an official at Seoul's energy ministry.

Separately, the 22-member Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) agreed in Manila last Thursday to take the first steps towards a regional oil stockpile that could be used to ride out supply squeezes.

China overtook Japan last year to become the world's second-biggest oil consumer behind the United States, accounting for some seven per cent of the total global market of more than 80 million barrels a day (bpd).

Fears of sabotage attacks on the infrastructure in the Middle East, which supplies more than 70 per cent of Asia's oil imports, have also kept crude prices high.