Sharply lower oil prices have put more downward pressure New Zealand petrol and diesel prices, but further falls are not expected to occur.

For Berliner Anke Seemann, Germany's energy transformation is the chance to exercise her green conscience.

As the Prime Minister said, "It makes no sense to be calling for emissions restrictions on one hand while subsidising emissions on the other."

A cartoon circulating on Twitter carries a warning for the oil industry.

Fight over who pays for the clean-up of a heavily contaminated area of Auckland's Wynyard Quarter will go all the way to the Supreme Court.

The world is running out of storage facilities supplies of oil and may soon exhaust tanker space, raising the chances of a plunge in crude prices.

Oil may be king of the commodities, but its physical form is tough to come by.

The 46 countries that have at least one sovereign wealth fund have largely set them up for a rainy day.

Auckland Council will vote on Thursday over whether to allow offshore oil exploration off Auckland's west coast.

New Zealand Refining, operator of the country's only oil refinery, added an extra US cent to its margins from recent upgrades.

At Bergen harbour, there's a forlorn look about the oil service ships tied up bow to stern.

Norway's Statoil is exploring for oil around New Zealand. Herald reporter Grant Bradley headed north to find out why they've come all this way.

Mobil is taking its $10m tank farm pollution fight all the way to the Supreme Court.

Partially completed buildings stand during construction this month at the Williston Apartments luxury development in Williston, North Dakota.

The recent rally in Z shares convinced Infratil and the Super Fund that it was time to sell.

High levels of pollution are being emitted by diesel vehicles built by a range of carmakers other than Volkswagen, it has been reported.

Infratil will book a profit of $392m on the sale of its remaining 20pc stake in Z Energy.

Z Energy is warning it's facing a potential multi-million dollar bill from NZ Customs - backdated to 1986.

An oil company with an exploration licence off Northland has been accused by Greenpeace of trying to secretly get onside with iwi leaders.

Russia's energy pivot toward Asia faces its sternest test next month when Vladimir Putin visits Beijing amid slumping oil prices and concerns over China's economic slowdown.

Publicly-owned Waterfront Auckland has won $10m from oil giant Mobil to pay for a cleanup of part of the Wynyard Quarter.

The US crude benchmark finishing below $US40 a barrel for the first time in six years on China's weakening economy.

Solid Energy acting chairman Andy Coupe admitted it was "unlikely" that any sale, or sales, would cover its outstanding debt.

Genesis Energy announced its last two coal-burning electricity generators at Huntly Power Station will be shut down.

Mr Key said Solid Energy had $300 million of outstanding debt and was in a "precarious position".

New Zealand Oil & Gas says exploration drilling of the Barque prospect in the Canterbury Basin, which has the potential to be the nation's biggest-ever hydrocarbon discovery, is expected to start in 2017.

The world's big energy groups have shelved US$200 billion ($298 billion) of spending on new projects in an urgent round of cost-cutting to protect dividends as the oil price slumps for a second time this year.

Iran, once OPEC's second-biggest producer, will boost its oil exports by 500,000 barrels a day immediately after sanctions are lifted