A123 Systems has opened the largest lithium-ion automotive battery manufacturing plant in North America.

The new facility in Livonia, Michigan, is a welcome boost for employment in the beleaguered state and will expand A123’s production capacity up to 600MW hours per year when fully operational, contributing to the company's plan to expand global final cell assembly capacity to more than 760MW hours annually by the end of 2011.

French industrial gases company Air Liquide has said it will invest $450 million in two global-scale hydrogen production units to supply Saudi Aramco with hydrogen for its planned Yanbu refinery.

Saudi Aramco's refinery will be located in Yanbu Industrial City, on the west coast of the kingdom. The new incorporated Red Sea Refining Company will process 400,000 barrels of heavy crude per day when the facility is completed in 2014.

The two hydrogen production units will have a total production capacity of 262 million cubic feet per day.

BAE Systems, Europe’s largest defense contractor, is considering the sale of its US-based component manufacturing business Platform Solutions, for up to $2 billion.

Platform Solutions makes electronic components including cockpit displays for military jets and digital engine controls for commercial aircraft. The company, part of BAE's Electronic, Intelligence and Support (EI&S) division, also produces electrical components for hybrid buses. The unit has facilities in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Irving, Texas, Johnson City, New York, and Redmond, Washington.  

Tullow Oil has today announced a key new oil discovery in its Owo-1 exploration sidetrack in the Deepwater Tano licence offshore Ghana which confirms that its Owo well is now a "major new oil field."

Tullow said that the sidetrack showed a "very substantial" 200 metre gross oil column in the heart of the Owo oil field, with new condensate and gas accumulations below.

Gerbig Engineering Company, a designer, fabricator and installer of modular cleanrooms, has completed a move to a new location with increased square footage in Burnsville, Minnesota.

The new location provides expanded production, warehouse and office areas. A laboratory area for cleanroom environmental monitoring and room for a future cleanroom products testing lab are also included in the space.

The attempt by Air Products to acquire Airgas has taken some twists and turns this week.

The week began with Airgas resoundingly rejecting a revised offer from Air Products to purchase the remaining Airgas shares that it does not already own, referring to the offer of $65.50 per share in cash as “grossly inadequate”. Air Products then accused Air Gas of ‘value destructive tactics’.

Around 2,500 jobs have been saved at troubled UK social housing group Connaught, after specialist construction group Morgan Sindall acquired the majority of its assets and contracts.

Connaught, which carries out essential maintenance and repairs to homes, called in administrators to its main social housing unit after government cuts caused contract deferrals, leading to financial difficulties.

Administrator KPMG had warned of potential redundancies among Connaught's 10,000 staff.

Around 2,500 jobs have been saved at troubled UK social housing group Connaught, after specialist construction group Morgan Sindall acquired the majority of its assets and contracts.

Connaught, which carries out essential maintenance and repairs to homes, called in administrators to its main social housing unit after government cuts caused contract deferrals, leading to financial difficulties.

Administrator KPMG had warned of potential redundancies among Connaught's 10,000 staff.

The US trade deficit narrowed more than expected in July, as imports fell and exports climbed to their highest level in almost two years, according to Commerce Department figures released today.

The deficit in international trade of goods and services narrowed by 14 percent to $42.78 billion, from $49.76 billion in June, with imports down by 2.1 percent to $196.11 billion from $200.33 billion in June. Exports rose 1.8 percent to $153.3 billion, their highest since August 2008, and up from $150.57 billion in June.