The Australian - China demand drives gold stocks

GOLD is not the only story worth reconsidering.

A paper just published in the British journal Energy Policy has revived the peak-oil issue. Research by a group of Oxford scientists suggests the world's oil reserves have been exaggerated by one-third, and the expected oil left remaining to be extracted should be downgraded from its present band of between 1150 billion and 1350 billion barrels, to something between 850 billion and 900 billion barrels.

David King, the British government's former chief scientist and now head of the Smith School of Enterprise and Environment, which put together the report, says demand may outstrip supply as soon as 2014. Sir David warns of shortages and price spikes within a few years, and says he is very worried that Western governments are not taking seriously the question of peak oil.

The Australian - Divided Aborigines in vital vote over $30bn gas plant plan

A BITTER split among Kimberley Aborigines over Woodside Petroleum's plan to build a $30 billion gas plant will come to a head today when native title claimants decide whether to oust opponents of the project from their claim group.

Stuff.co.nz - Calls to delay ETS get cool response

The economy is too fragile to handle the extra $255 million a year the emissions trading scheme will cost and the scheme should be delayed or ditched, business groups say.

TV NZ - Major economies to advance climate talks

The United States will host a meeting of major economies on April 18-19 in Washington to advance talks on a global deal to fight climate change, the top US climate negotiator said on Thursday.

ABC - Oil pumped from grounded coal ship

Salvagers have pumped almost 40 tonnes of oil from a coal carrier grounded on the Great Barrier Reef off central Queensland.

ABC - Oil wells fail company's own safety standards

The company that owns the oil well that leaked into the Timor Sea last year says none of the other wells it owns in the oil field comply with its own safety standards.

SMH - Oil trending higher

The movement of NYMEX oil has been for a long time constrained by strong historical support and resistance levels.

However, beginning mid-2009 these historical support and resistance levels became less useful in understanding the behavior of the oil chart. This change in pattern was not confirmed until late 2009, and early 2010.

The pattern of rally and retreat has developed a new behavioral pattern that continues to point the way to higher prices.

ABC - Coal mine to work with community on plan

The proponent of a coal mine at Colton, north of Maryborough, says it wants to work with the community on a proposal submitted to the Queensland Government.

UQ News - Climate science goes super at UQ

UQ's newly established Global Change Institute has received $1.4 million in ARC funding to attract the best young minds to tackle climate change.

The funding is part of the Australian Government's $27.2 million Super Science Fellowships scheme aimed at attracting and retaining outstanding early-career researchers in three key areas: space science and astronomy; marine and climate sciences; and future industries research—biotechnology and nanotechnology.

SMH - Where is the fuss over the UN climate talks?

Today, one of the most important meetings in our history begins, though you probably wouldn't know it.

The 2010 UN climate talks in Bonn, Germany, won't make the front page of the newspaper, and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd won't attend. Since Copenhagen in December, the media, politicians and public have shifted their attention from climate change to other things. Dinner-table chatter now focuses on health reform, population growth or Tony Abbott's abs

Where has climate change gone? As Peter Costello aptly put it in an article for the National Times last week: "Can a momentous moral challenge fizzle out like this?"