After cleaning and greening South Africa, Judy Nankervis, managing director of Blendwell Chemicals, talks to Jayne Alverca about extending the company’s reach across the African sub-continent and beyond.

In a host of industrial, commercial and manufacturing settings, cleanliness has vital implications for employee and customer safety and satisfaction. Grease and dirt is not only unsightly, it can harbour all manner of unpleasant micro-organisms and easily lead to litigation, especially in food handling industries.

As 2012 begins, Jannie Viljoen, manufacturing director of the new Mount Edgecombe site of Altech UEC South Africa, is presiding over the African continent’s most advanced facility of its type. Jayne Alverca reports.

UK-based Centrica, the parent company of British Gas, has reached an agreement with ConocoPhillips to acquire its non-operated interests in the gas and oil producing Statfjord field for £142 million.

Caterpillar delivered record-breaking 2011 sales and revenues of $60.14 billion, an increase of 41 percent from $42.59 billion in 2010.

Profit in 2011 was $4.93 billion, an increase of 83 percent from $2.70 billion in 2010. Profit per share of $7.40 was up 78 percent from $4.15 in 2010.

Excluding the impact of the acquisition of Bucyrus International, Inc, 2011 profit was $7.79 per share, up 88 percent from a year ago.

London, UK-based Bisichi Mining has announced that its principal South African coal mining subsidiary, Black Wattle Colliery, has been approved an allocation of 87,500 tonnes of export tonnage at Richards Bay Coal Terminal.

The allocation falls under the four million tonnes per annum Quattro Programme, which allows junior black economic empowerment (BEE) coal producers—typically with annual export volumes below 250,000 tonnes per annum—access to the coal export market.

The allocation is provided on an annual basis.

Boeing ended 2011 on a high with a 20 percent rise in net income for the fourth quarter, and 21 percent for the year as a whole, partly due to an increase in sales of commercial aircraft.

Net income for Q4 2011 was $1.39 billion, compared with $1.16 billion last year, while net income for the year was $4 billion, compared with $3.3 billion in 2010.

Norwegian Air Shuttle has signed an agreement with both Airbus and Boeing for delivery of a total of 222 new aircraft—the largest such deal in European aviation history.

The order includes 100 new Boeing 737 MAX8s and 22 Next-Generation 737-800s, making Norwegian the European launch customer for Boeing’s new aircraft. The Airbus order—Norwegian’s first purchase from the company—includes 100 Airbus A320neos. The orders include additional purchase rights of 150 aircraft from both manufacturers.

The Weir Group PLC has agreed to acquire Novatech LLC, a US manufacturer of well service pump valves and valve seats for upstream oil and gas applications, for $176 million (£113 million) in cash.

Based in Dallas, Texas, Novatech is a family-owned business producing a wide variety of proprietary valves and valve seats for high pressure applications such as frac, cement and mud pumps used in unconventional upstream oil and gas operations.

The business is well known to Weir, being a long standing local supplier to Weir SPM.

UK oil and gas producer EnQuest has acquired a further 25 per cent stake in the Kraken oil discovery from Nautical Petroleum.

EnQuest will pay up to $240 million for the stake, together with interests in surrounding exploration acreage, based on the determination of gross reserves.

The acquisition will bring EnQuest’s stake in Kraken up to 45 per cent, following its previous purchase of a 20 per cent stake from oil and gas explorer Canamens earlier this month. Nautical retains a 25 per cent interest, with First Oil holding the remaining 30 per cent.

A new report from the American Chemistry Council suggests that untapped natural gas resources from shale could rejuvenate the economy of the US state of Michigan.

The report concludes that more than 19,000 permanent, high-paying chemical manufacturing jobs could be created in Michigan, revitalizing the state's industrial base, driving economic growth and boosting exports while generating tens of millions of dollars in much-needed state revenue.