Europe

Airbus has won a large order from the Indian budget airline IndiGo for 180 of its A320 jets.

The order, worth around $15.6 billion (£10 billion) at advertised prices, includes 150 of Airbus’s new eco-conscious A320neo jets.

Blagnac, France-basedAirbus has described the order as the biggest, in terms of number of jets, in aviation history.

Gurgaon-based IndiGo is the first announced customer for the A320neo—a revamped, eco-conscious version of Airbus’s popular single-aisle jet—that Airbus hopes to bring to market in 2016.

The operator of Scotland’s Grangemouth oil refinery has struck a deal with PetroChina, China's largest oil and gas producer, to safeguard the future of the facility.

The joint venture between Grangemouth operator Ineos and PetroChina will see the two companies working together and sharing skills, though the specific details have yet to be drawn up.

Around 1,400 workers are employed at Grangemouth, with an estimated 7,000 jobs at other firms, particularly in central Scotland, being dependent on the plant.

Anglo-Swiss mining giant Xstrata is said to be close to acquiring Drummond, Colombia’s second biggest coal miner, according to a report in UK newspaper the Sunday Times.

It is thought that family-owned Drummond could be sold for around $8 billion (£5 billion). The company was put up for sale last year.

A number of other mining giants, including Rio Tinto, Vale, Vedanta Resources and Essar Energy, are thought to also have been interested in Drummond.

Royal Dutch Shell is to begin drilling an exploration well off the New Zealand coast that could extend the life of the Maui gas field.

Drilling ship the Noble Discoverer will drill the Ruru well for Shell Todd Oil Services Ltd. Shell Todd is 50 per cent owned by Todd Energy Ltd. and 50 per cent owned by The Hague-based Shell.

The Ruru well lies approximately 40 kilometres off the Taranki coast on New Zealand’s North Island and is adjacent to the Maui gas field. Maui, which covers an area of 157 square kilometres, began production 30 years ago.

UK construction firm Costain has increased its all-share offer for the business services group Mouchel, valuing it at around £150 million.

The revised offer values each Mouchel share at about 135 pence. Mouchel has already rejected one bid from Costain, made in December last year.

Spanish construction company ACS has gained a key stake in rival Hochtief, after it announced it now holds more than 30 per cent of shares in the German group.

The stake represents a key stage in ACS’s strategy to take full control of Hochtief, because it can now buy Hochtief shares on the open market and accumulate more than half of the company. ACS announced its bid for full control of Hochtief last September.

Iraq has given the go-ahead for Royal Dutch Shell to build a dock in the Shatt al-Arab waterway, to help move heavy equipment to the Majnoon oilfield.

Shell is to fund construction of the 25-metre quay, which will be used to move materials from the sea port at Umm Qasr near Basra to the Majnoon oilfield it is developing—a transportation method that is faster, safer and easier than moving materials by truck.

Renewable energy firm RES has received approval from the Scottish government for its 99 megawatt wind farm, located approximately 20 miles south of Inverness at Dunmaglass.

The wind farm will comprise 33 turbines, each with a maximum height of 120 metres to the tip of the blade, and is expected to generate electricity equivalent to the average annual demand of around 46,000 Scottish households.

The Scottish government said the construction phase of the development would create work for about 55 people.

Aston Martin is in talks with Daimler over a potential plan that would see the British luxury carmaker design and build the German company’s Maybach brand, according to a report in the Financial Times.

According to the FT, the partnership would see Aston Martin take engine technology from Daimler in exchange for building cars. It is thought that Daimler’s four-wheel-drive technology could be particularly useful to the British company, as it is considering making an off-road vehicle.