The Pohokura partners have confirmed a possible court appeal against the Commerce Commission's rulings on gas marketing from their Taranaki field. Todd Energy now has less than two weeks to decide whether to appeal, possibly without partners Shell New Zealand and OMV, against the Commerce Commission's rulings on gas marketing for the contested resource.

International Energy Agency deputy director William Ramsay heads the speakers' list for the 2004 New Zealand Petroleum Conference in Auckland next March. The conference looks to be an outstanding event, given the challenging state of this country's energy industry as it contemplates the rapidly-approaching post-Maui age.

Energy Minister Pete Hodgson has announced the members and mission of his Electricity Commission - to ensure New Zealand has a secure electricity supply, with adequate reserve generation for cold dry years at minimal additional cost.

On the international front, the seemingly long-running war of words between Indonesia's Pertamina and ExxonMobil continues as both companies squabble over the terms of a proposed 50-50 joint venture to exploit the Cepu oil and gas field.

Looking just north and in his final Budget 2004 speech, Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohammad announced that there was a need for another consortium rivalling Petronas to undertake oil exploration, production and refining in the country.

The country's 2003/04 Economic Report has revealed Malaysia has seen higher oil and gas production during the first half of this year, with crude oil production increasing by 8.1% and gas by 6.2%.

Amity Oil will begin production from another of its Turkish discoveries after completing a production test over a gas bearing interval at the Adatepe-2 well.

Jim McDonald, managing director of the Australian Pipeline Trust, has given Australian regulators a serve in front of an international audience saying the development of an Australian national gas grid was being frustrated by economic regulators who created uncertainty for investors and operators.

In the same vein, Goldfields Gas Transmission Pty Ltd said it was still reviewing an unsuccessful application to revoke coverage of the pipeline under the National Third Party Access Code. GGT said a successful application would have eliminated the current overlap between the Goldfields Gas Pipeline State Agreement and the Code.

A 230 km pipeline carrying three million barrels of oil per day - and associated oil depots - is to be built from the Andaman Sea to the Gulf of Thailand by the Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) at a cost of US$719 million.

Despite sending a high level delegation to plead its case, the proposal for a 2,400 km pipeline from Siberia to China is reported to have stalled. However, first gas will flow through parts of China's longest gas pipeline next month. It is about 4,000 km long and capable of transporting 12 billion cubic metres of gas annually once completed.

On the coal bed methane front, Apex Energy and Sun Resources joint venture has signed a MoU with Energy Australia that will take it into unchartered territory for Australian coal bed methane (CBM) juniors. The partners plan to complete a prefeasibility study on power generation at or near the Metropolitan mine site using unprocessed mine gas as feed.

An extensive drilling campaign has paid off for CBM producer, Oil Company of Australia (OCA) with the announcement of a significant reserves upgrade in the Durham Ranch coal seam gas field located in central Queensland.

Back to the west and the first job for the new Australian Marine Complex in the Henderson is underway as Saipem's Semac pipelay barge undergoes refitting and maintenance work before heading around the Great Australian Bight to work on BHPB's Minerva project in the Otway Basin.

The WA state government has launched two major studies with a view to securing the future of the state's resources industry, announcing SMEC Australia and Purvin & Gertz would carry out the 'Northern Strategic Industry Areas Study' and the 'Petroleum Resources Availability and Opportunities Study' respectively.

The CSIRO, Curtin University and the University of WA this week formed a united energy research partnership intended to benefit the operations of the global oil and gas industry with leading-edge practical research.