The main representative body for Irish oil and gas exploration firms wants to see more incentives for marginal field operators, as well as a lowering of the corporate tax rate for such companies, included in the Finance Bill later in the year.

ROMANIA: Romania’s foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu has apologised to his visiting German counterpart for handing him a booklet during a televised news conference that mixed up a map of Germany with one of France on the cover.

The Government looks set to formally open its new offshore exploration licensing round next month, with it likely to run until the autumn of 2015.

The coming year is set to be another interesting one in terms of the development of Ireland’s much mooted, though still largely unproven, offshore oil and gas potential.

No applications for licences to explore for gas using controversial fracking methods will be considered by the State for at least two years, the Department of Natural Resources has said.

THE ESRI report commissioned by Dublin City Council (DCC) would appear to vindicate the recommendation of the council engineers and executive to proceed with plans for an incinerator at Poolbeg.

Campaigners against the Shell refinery being built in Co Mayo are holding protests today in Erris and Dublin.

Opponents of the Corrib gas pipeline in Co Mayo are protesting outside the Department of Natural Resources and the headquarters of the global oil firm Shell in Dublin today.

The Government has announced plans to hold a two-day public hearing next month into the controversial Corrib gas pipeline.

The five men jailed over protests against a pipeline from the Corrib gas field off the Mayo coast are the only people with the power to resolve the dispute, it was claimed today.

A moderate earthquake shook Quebec, Canada, early today, jolting some people awake. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damages, authorities said.

A DISPUTE among deer hunters over a tree stand in Wisconsin erupted into a series of shootings that left five people dead and three others injured.

A dispute among deer hunters over a tree stand in north-western Wisconsin erupted in a series of shootings that left five people dead and three others injured, officials said.

The promotion of wood energy as a viable alternative energy source for Irish industry, public bodies and consumers must be a key objective to meet Kyoto targets, a conference heard today.

A WILDFIRE destroyed four homes and forced about 250 people to flee their homes as it roared through 1,100 acres of rolling, oak-studded hills, US authorities said last night.