The Australian - Institutional investors start to worry about challenges facing oil companies

WITH the current state of the oil and equity markets, it may seem premature to think that the petroleum industry is about to hit the wall, whatever your opinion of peak oil and climate change.
But institutional investors from the US, Europe and Australia worth a combined $US12.5 trillion ($13.6 trillion) are sufficiently concerned about the significant challenges and potential threats to oil industry valuations that they are demanding greater disclosure on how these companies propose to manage the inevitable transformation to a low-carbon economy and the likely shift away from their end products.

Otago Daily Times - Govt must get serious about peak oil

John de Bueger looks at the implications of "peak oil" and suggests New Zealand should be getting serious about it.

The Australian - Aluminium producer Alcoa waiting for enough gas to revive expansion plans

AUSTRALIA is attracting more than $US130 billion ($142bn) worth of investment in some of the world's richest natural gas fields to supply buyers in Japan and China.
But it seems domestic customers, particularly in Western Australia, will have to wait.

Aluminium producer Alcoa, for one, is waiting for enough gas to revive its expansion plans.

A spokeswoman for Alcoa said its stalled alumina refinery expansion in the state would not be back on the agenda until the company secured a long-term competitive gas supply.

According to the DomGas Alliance of gas users, including miners Newmont and Fortescue Metals Group, the state's gas shortage will last to at least 2020, hindering mine projects.

Gisborne Herald - Our carbon footprint must be reduced

Unless we drastically reduce our carbon footprint this century, humanity is on a collective suicide mission.

While climate signals say we should change, peak oil means we must.

Already the availability of oil is declining.

With the end of cheap oil, how will we manufacture and transport goods, and what will we eat?

ABC - Ports still closed in wake of cyclone Ului

North Queensland Bulk Ports staff are inspecting the Dalrymple Bay terminal, south of Mackay, and the Abbot Point terminal near Bowen, south of Townsville, but no major damage has been reported.

Scoop.co.nz - ‘Peak Demand,’ Yes, But Not the Nice Kind

When oil crossed $120 a barrel for the first time in May 2008, oil cornucopians knew they were in trouble. Prices had quadrupled in just five years, yet had failed to bring new production online. Regular crude had flatlined around 74 million barrels per day (mbpd). The case for peak oil was looking stronger with every new uptick in crude futures.

Herald Sun - ClimateWorks skids on the bad oil

You see, just a couple of weeks ago, the Virgin group founder threw his weight behind a different report, called The Oil Crunch, and it makes the ClimateWorks transport recommendations look as if they are stalled in the same timewarp as the Texas tea barons of the popular '60s show.

FN Arena - Is UCG THe Next CSM?

The second compromise was far more interesting, and it involves Peak Oil. We will also not take sides here on the Peak Oil debate, but suffice to say there

SMH - Oil reserves 'exaggerated by one third'

The world's oil reserves have been exaggerated by up to a third, according to Sir David King, Britain's former chief scientist, who has warned of shortages and price spikes within years.

Tasmania Examiner - Leaders answer our readers' questions

Q: Given that the effects of peak oil are most likely to begin being felt during this term of Parliament, how will you lead the response to the challenge in Tasmania?

David Bartlett: No Government has done more to support renewable energy development than Labor.

Ranges Trader - Look to future

One of the organisers, Steven Jeffery, said they hoped to kick start community discussion on where the hills were heading, environmentally and socially.

“The idea behind community conversations is to get people engaged in thinking actively about how we might face problems like peak oil or climate change as a community,” he said.