The gold bugs must be scratching their heads. After all, it’s just not supposed to work this way.

Yesterday’s big bid by British Gas for Origin Energy puts coal seam methane (firmly in the spotlight). Recently we published a map showing Queensland’s coal properties, including the location of coal seam methane projects in the Surat Basin.

Just eight years ago Russia was the most promising oil region outside the Middle East. Its rapidly growing output helped meet soaring Chinese demand and limited sharp oil price rises.

The latest victims of the subprime meltdown…your kids. Highlights of the Fed’s latest Beige Book. Gas, oil, food…fresh all-time highs. Merrill Lynch disappoints…another economic think tank says credit crisis barely halfway finished.

And Europe’s markets continue to fall… but there’s good money to be made elsewhere… especially in one particular corner of South-East Asia.

‘I had to kick their butts to get it done and now it’s a tremendous asset to the entire country.’ So said George Mitchell, the man whose discovery unlocked a whole new supply of gas for the United States of America.

In the currency market, the dollar was slammed against the euro. Late Friday, the euro was trading at $1.5587 vs. $1.5432 on Thursday.