Australia and the United States talked up nuclear power during a two-day Asia Pacific climate change conference, but the controversial energy source was conspicuously absent when meeting delegates issued a strategy for slashing greenhouse gas emissions.

The governments of 26 countries have agreed to release the equivalent of two million barrels of oil per day from strategic reserves to cope with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the International Energy Agency said.

TWENTY-SIX countries in an international energy consortium will release 60 million barrels of crude oil and petrol to relieve the energy crunch caused by Hurricane Katrina.

The US government today decided to release oil from its petroleum reserves to help refiners affected by Hurricane Katrina.

Officials inaugurated the first section of a 1,100-mile, US-backed pipeline today that will bring Caspian Sea oil to Western markets, a project seen as an economic and political boon for the troubled Caucasus region.