The Australian - BG wins big Chinese gas deal

AUSTRALIA'S liquefied coal seam gas industry took a big leap forward yesterday when China National Offshore Oil Corp signed the first major supply deal with BG Group and agreed to take a stake in its $8 billion gas export plans. The deal, which represents a defining moment in the development of the CSG industry, puts BG one step ahead of its rivals.

But at the same time it sharply increases the value perceptions of the reserves being proved up by other players in the fast-emerging sector and is likely to be followed by more supply deals with offshore buyers. For an undisclosed price, the Chinese oil giant has agreed to buy 3.6 million tonnes a year of liquefied natural gas for 20 years, underpinning a whole processing unit, or train, of the two-train project.

The Australian - Woodside in talks with Apache about gas for Pluto 2

WOODSIDE Petroleum has entered negotiations with Apache Corp and Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company to buy gas for a possible expansion of its Pluto liquefied natural gas project. Woodside said it has signed a non-binding letter with the two parties “setting out key principles to facilitate negotiation on a non-exclusive basis” for the possible sale of gas from the Apache-operated Julimar and Brunello fields to support a second LNG train at Pluto.

The Age - Car use 'costing nation billions'

Car use is costing Australia billions of dollars a year due to pollution, congestion, accidents and rising obesity levels, a public transport lobby group says. The Public Transport Users Association has called for tax changes to discourage vehicle use and road building as part of its submission to the Federal Government's tax review.

The Australian - Capital spend on resource projects rise to $80bn

CAPITAL expenditure on advanced mineral and energy projects in Australia rose 16 per cent to $79.97 billion in April from October. The figure was also up 12 per cent from a year earlier, the government’s Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics said today.

Rooted - More direct action against coal

Last year, over 150 people were arrested for engaging in civil disobedience and direct action to stop the expansion of the coal industry. In the tradition of Martin Luther King, Ghandi and the Suffragettes, people the world over are increasingly taking to the streets and putting their bodies on the line to help force real action on climate change.

This morning, a team of Greenpeace activists chained themselves to one of the massive coal excavators at Hazelwood power station in the Latrobe valley. Hazelwood is a brown coal polluting dinosaur, built in the 60’s with 1950’s technology, it was due to be closed this year before being granted a new lease of life. Under the CPRS, International Power, the owners of Hazelwood, will be given millions of dollars in public handouts so that they can keep the plant operating for longer.

Scoop.co.nz - Brownlee: Wave and Tidal Energy Annual Conference

It gives me great pleasure to open the Aotearoa Wave and Tidal Energy Association's third annual conference today, with the theme ‘Making Waves'. It is great to see a strong turn out today, in an industry which is still in its infancy, but has enthusiastic and hard-working proponents. ... But as the day's first speaker, I felt it would be useful for me to start by briefly summarising the progress made by marine energy in New Zealand and internationally - how far we've come, and where we are headed.

Energy Business Review - Contact Energy Announces Delay In Decision On 220 MW Te Mihi Geothermal Power Project

Contact Energy Limited (Contact Energy) has announced the delay in its new power station investment due to the recession in over 30 years cuts demand and increases funding costs. Contact Energy’s plan for a 220 megawatt (MW) plant at the Te Mihi geothermal steam field near Taupo will be reviewed later in 2009. The company had previously planned to start construction in 2009 and have the plant generating in 2011. Previously, Contact Energy has described Te Mihi as a 24 month construction project.

Green Left Weekly - Geothermal energy — hot promise, tepid response

“One hundred percent renewable energy in Australia by 2020!” That was the bold call endorsed by members of more than 150 climate action groups at the Climate Action Summit held in Canberra in January. By and large, the establishment media have ignored this call — or else dismissed it as green “extremism”.