The Age - Linc Energy to merge with SAPEX

Coal-to-liquids company Linc Energy plans to merge with oil and gas explorer SAPEX Ltd in a deal that values the target at $104 million

NZ Herald - AA: Seek out cheap petrol - but boycotts won't work

The AA says boycotting the 'big petrol companies' won't bring down petrol prices, but did offer other solutions for managing the sky-rocketing cost of fuel.

AA was reacting to online trader WeBuy, who want its membership to boycott the four main fuel suppliers in a protest over their "astronomical profits" in the current unstable market.

But AA spokesman Mike Noon says while people should seek out the cheapest fuel, they should focus on ways to save fuel, rather than on revenge.

Stuff.co.nz - On a bicycle built for fuel savings

John Pickering, of John's Cycles in New Brighton, is importing 49cc motors from China and attaching them to glamourised bikes to promote their benefits to cyclists.

He has built six motorised bikes already, but they are not for sale only the $300 motors are.

SMH - Inflation fears high as fuel prices rise

The inflation expectations of consumers has risen to a record high this month, as petrol prices climbed above $1.60 a litre, a survey shows.

The Australian - WA gas crisis poses threat to economy

WESTERN Australia is facing a crippling gas supply crisis that could deny the nation significant export revenue from the China-led mining boom at a critical phase in the economic cycle.

NZ Herald - Brian Fallow: Shifting gear to save planet

It is not, admittedly, a trifling sum. The International Energy Agency reckons it will cost US$45 trillion ($60 trillion) to develop and deploy the technologies needed to halve carbon emissions from the energy sector (including transport) by the middle of the century.

That is about what would be required to stabilise the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere at 450 parts per million, which would be half as much again as the air breathed by Captain Cook or anyone before him.

It ought to be enough to keep the rise in average global temperatures below 2.4C and is the target the leaders of the Group of Eight leading industrial powers agreed last year they would seriously consider.

NewsTalk ZB - Fuel price rises "too much, too soon"

The Automobile Association has condemned a second fuel price rise in two days, which adds adds another 6c to the price of litre of fuel.

Herald Sun - Szencorp electric car pumps energy into buildings

SOUTH Melbourne company Szencorp has not only skidded past the local motoring industry to win the race to develop an electric car, its marque can pump energy back into buildings.

Federal Minister for Finance Lindsay Tanner will today unveil Australia's first plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), created at Sydney's University of Technology (UTS) for Szencorp, a developer of energy and water efficient properties.

The car has been retrofitted with extra batteries so that it can store more electricity than a conventional hybrid, allowing it to bypass its petrol tank for at least 30km.

News.com.au - Rudd mulls Saudi Arabian oil summit invite

THE Rudd Government will decide overnight whether to attend an emergency meeting of oil producers and consumers, to be held in Saudi Arabia in 10 days' time.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he had been told today that Australia had been invited to the June 22 meeting of world leaders.

"The Government of Australia has been invited and that has just been conveyed to me in the last hour or so and we'll be considering that overnight,'' Mr Rudd told reporters.

ABC _ Indonesia cattle trade hit by high fuel prices

As petrol prices continue to hurt Australians, things have got a lot worse for our biggest live cattle customer, Indonesia.

The Indonesian Government has increased the country's petrol prices by 30 per cent.

Meat and Livestock Australia's Allister Lugsdin says the flow-on effects will affect northern beef producers.

Herald Sun - Russia's grim oil forecast

RUSSIAN energy giant Gazprom is fuelling concerns about high oil prices, predicting the price for crude oil could hit $US250 a barrel within 18 months.

But senior oil industry figures and analysts flatly rejected Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller's "apocalyptic" prediction as baseless.

NZ Herald - Home-made power? It's a breeze

With hydro lakes at their lowest levels in years and talk of a looming power crisis, some New Zealanders are turning to alternative energy sources - really big ones.

Graham Purchas, who is considering buying a 4m-high wind turbine for his farm north of Wellington, was among the thousands who yesterday poured through the gates for the opening day of the 40th Fieldays at Mystery Creek, near Hamilton.