Plunging oil prices have forced explorers to scale back plans in New Zealand, some have had to restructure and there could be a sharp decline in capital spending in a sector the Government has backed....

Australia's coal seam gas extraction industry is set for a bumper year in 2015, but the petroleum exploration sector isn't.

It has become standard for tough questions to be asked of oil companies when the price of petrol rises or falls dramatically.

Petrol prices dropped for the 12th successive time this week and even better news appears to lie ahead for holiday motorists.

The sharp fall in oil prices is set to continue benefiting consumers but could delay exploration projects around New Zealand.

The sharp decline in oil and dairy prices could have a huge impact on the domestic economy as the former is our largest import item and the latter our biggest export earner.

Most of $8 million the Government is putting into mineral and oil and gas geotechnical studies will be spent on aerial aeromagnetic surveys.

BP and Z are both claiming to have led the market in reducing their national price for 91-octane petrol to a smidgeon below $2 a litre this morning.

Russia's economic crisis deepened as the Govt acknowledged it's heading for recession and "panic" crept into the financial system as oil prices plunged.

With $1 trillion spent on projects to feed a commodity boom since 2002, the world's mining firms have a lot riding on China.

The world is in the grip of a new oil shock. The shock is that prices are collapsing. Liam Dann explains what it means for the NZ economy.

Falling oil prices have been one of the biggest stories in financial circles over recent weeks.

Plunging oil prices are saving airlines US$7 billion ($8.9 billion) this year on jet fuel - and the leader of one of the big three airline alliances says this is helping profitability in an industry....

Diamonds are so hard to find that explorers have pretty much given up trying.

A secretive group of the world's most powerful oil ministers will soon gather in Vienna to take one of the most important decisions to affect the still fragile world economy.

Tugboat crews are threatening to disrupt shipments from the world's biggest iron ore port as they negotiate for increased wages.

Meridian Energy has fattened its dividend and is hinting of a possible return of capital next year after beating prospectus forecasts in its first annual result.

Energy companies are taking their controversial fracking operations from the land to the sea - to deep waters off the US, South American and African coasts.

Oil prices in New York have tumbled to their lowest level since mid-March helped by unplanned refinery shutdowns in the US midwest.

The mining company achieved a profit of US$58.9 million in the first three months of the year as production from Didipio came onstream.

Taranaki oil and gas explorer Tag Oil, of Canada, is expanding into the New Zealand minerals sector through its 49 per cent ownership of a listed Canadian explorer.

Z Energy says margins have risen due to fuel retailers trying to recoup up to $40m they've had to pay to top up losses at Marsden Point oil refinery.

A company owned by the Gloriavale Christian Community expects to drill a new oil well this spring with a rig that has recently arrived from Korea.

Stockton mineworkers got the bad news they were expecting today, that more than 180 jobs will go - over a quarter of the workforce - and mine production will fall by 25 per cent.

Gina Rinehart's son John Hancock called his youngest sister "an oxygen thief".

Editorial: During the passage of legislation establishing a new regime for activity in NZ's exclusive economic zone, environmentalists fretted the Govt had got the balance wrong.

Drilling has resumed off the Taranaki coast after the joint-venture partners in the Oi prospect had to abandon a well that hit trouble amid escalating costs.

Escalating violence in Iraq threatens to unleash an oil price spike that would put an end to the greatest period of price stability for nearly half a century, BP's chief economist has warned.

Escalating violence in Iraq has spooked world sharemarkets and pushed up oil to its highest price in nine months.