Mr Piebalgs highlighted the need for a truly multi-lateral partnership for energy efficiency and said that, initially, the agreement would involve member countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD.

"The Jidong Nanpu oil field has huge and quality reserves of up to five million tonnes per square kilometre," PetroChina president Jiang Jiemin said on Wednesday, according to the China Daily.

Chinese commentaries in recent months have tended to view the growing tension in Russia's relations with the United States as the inevitable manifestation of the "pulls and pushes" of a complex, but in essence interlocking, relationship of cooperation and competition, where each side is optimally realizing its interests.

But the thinking has changed.

A group of hippies with a bent for mung beans, living together in huts made from cow dung with a penchant for, well, not wearing any clothes?

That's not the idea Paul Antonelli from Greenedge Projects has.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Big Oil went on the defensive Wednesday, denying accusations by a consumer group that mismanagement and a lack of competition are the reasons behind this spring's record gasoline prices.

Gas prices hit $3.10 a gallon Wednesday, according to AAA. It's the fourth record day in a row, and the surge has been attributed to low gasoline supplies caused by a lack of refining capacity.

Alexis Zeigler* came at age 18, he says, “to get the fuck out of Georgia.” Aubee came to escape the “barrage of ads” that filled her life in San Francisco. Apple came, giving up a job leading Outward Bound trips, to find “a life of investment, the richness of really digging in” to the natural world in which she’d been an adventurer, more than a steward.

Plenty of outsiders come. They’ll pull off I-64 at Shannon Hill, then follow the calm roads a few miles north into Louisa County. Along the way is the usual rural mix of trailers, tiny frame houses, more prosperous-looking farms. Women drag push-mowers over their yards; mailboxes are broadly spaced, each marking the end of a driveway. The landscape here is an illustration of the idea that each family has its own space, makes its own way and looks after its own affairs.

The company has disputed views that a pinnacle may be in sight and contends strong supply growth will prevail in the short term. Barring unexpected disruptions to production, Wood Mackenzie expects total global capacity to grow steadily from 86.3 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2006 to 96.7 million bpd in 2010.

The first “clean coal” power plants, which could dramatically cut carbon emissions, will need grants of up to £300 million.

A full tank and an empty wallet — if you’ve got one, chances are you’ve got both. And with gas prices at record levels these days, you should probably get used to the condition.

This week, retail gas prices hit their highest levels ever — an average of $3.10 per gallon, according to the Department of Energy — and it’s unlikely that they’ll come down any time soon.

Executives at drilling firms said foreign rig operators could easily try and move equipment to other markets if the business environment worsens, hurting the country's ability to produce oil.

Scientists will reveal the formula for calculating the amount of greenhouse gases emitted from the full cycle of fuels — from extraction and harvesting to combustion — said David Crane, an advisor to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.