The run-up in the price of oil in the last 18 months is due in large measure to the demands of China, India and other rising powers. This surge in demand is happening with coal. In 2003 coal was around $20 a metric ton, on Monday it way $125. In 2006 China exported 83 million tons of coal, last year 2 million; this year it is expected they will import 15 million tons.
India, Australia and other countries are ramping up production. Demand is not slowing. What this does to global warming is anybody's guess.
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Which is one reason the British government approved ten open-cast coal mining schemes in 2006, to the detriment of thousands of acres of English and Welsh countryside. Meanwhile, they make lots of soothing noises about combating global warming.
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