TV3 (NZ) - Cook Strait tidal generator given consent for trial

As warnings grow about the power shortages this winter, an alternative form of electricity generation has received a boost. Consent has been given for a trial in Cook Strait of a tide-driven turbine generator. It will be installed next summer off Owhiro Bay and will provide a megawatt of power to Wellington homes. Two Christchurch entrepreneurs are behind the tidal power project and have been working with a British company which has been testing the turbines. The turbine will be anchored about four kilometres off Wellington's south coast at a depth of 80 metres. The trial will check a number of things, including how the marine life reacts.

SMH - Fuel watch scheme 'to pressure retailers'

Motorists will have greater protection against being caught out by massive increases in petrol prices under new laws requiring oil companies to publish prices 24 hours in advance. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced today the Fuel Watch scheme, which has operated in Western Australia since 2000, will apply nationally from December 15.

Waikato Times - When the oil runs out

James Samuel wants to see New Zealanders get off their couches, into their garden, and get some dirt under their fingernails. Samuel is the national co-ordinator for Transition Towns, a movement pioneered in the UK in late 2006. While Transition Towns essentially grew from the notion of permaculture an approach to designing human settlements, in particular the development of perennial agricultural systems that mimic the structure and interrelationship found in natural ecologies Samuel says its "main drivers" are peak oil and climate change.

The Australian - Oil Search sales pave way for PNG gas

OIL Search has sold a package of its Middle Eastern and North African assets for $US200 million ($216.01 million) to focus on the development of a Papua New Guinea liquefied natural gas project. Oil Search is a partner in an Exxon Mobil-led venture that is poised to start engineering work on an $US11 billion LNG project in Papua New Guinea.

ABC - Sugar industry wants inclusion in carbon trading

The sugar industry is calling on the Federal Government to include sugar in any carbon trading scheme to be set up in Australia. Sugar producer CSR says new research shows cars run on ethanol produced from sugar have up to 80 per cent fewer CO2 emissions.

ABC - Methane power producers look to wind

The operator of a New South Wales bioreactor is now looking to include a wind farm on the site near Goulburn. The old Woodlawn mine at Tarago was shut down in 1998 leaving workers owed $6.5 million in entitlements. In 2004, the area was turned into a landfill site after a deal was brokered between the NSW Government and the workers.

Up to 400,000 tonnes of bio-degradable waste is now dumped at the site each year. Site owner Veolia is turning the waste into energy by tapping the methane it produces. The bioreactor will eventually produce enough energy to power 20,000 homes. Veolia is now planning to build a wind farm on the site with 125 turbines to be built within the next two to three years.

The Australian - Caltex diesel cut for urgent repairs

CALTEX Australia's diesel supplies in Queensland have been cut due to "urgent unplanned maintenance". A Caltex spokeswoman said no diesel had been produced at the plant since early in the month because of repairs on a small leak. The work was being conducted at a major diesel processing plant at Caltex’s Lytton refinery, in south-east Queensland.

Brisbane Times - Aussie oilers chase Iraq contracts

IRAQ is back on the agenda for three of Australia's largest oil producers. The war-torn nation's Ministry of Oil has revealed BHP Billiton and Woodside Petroleum are among the 35 international oil companies "pre-qualified" to bid for contracts to operate Iraqi oil and gas fields. And Oil Search is in advanced negotiations to pick up additional exploration ground in Kurdistan in northern Iraq.

SMH - Carnarvon boosts Thailand oil reserves

Oil and gas producer Carnarvon Petroleum Ltd has increased oil reserves at its Thailand assets by 300 per cent and aims for further reserve increases this year.

Upstream Online - Basker sidetrack tastes pay

Sydney-based Anzon Petroleum said it would complete the Basker-6 sidetrack off Australia’s Victoria state after confirming that oil-bearing sands struck in the well were a south-easterly extension of the Basker field.