Europe

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.

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.

Virgin Money has created 200 jobs in Edinburgh as part of its strategy to firm up its foothold in the UK banking sector.

The financial arm of Richard Branson’s Virgin Group is giving a much-needed boost to the Scottish capital, which has suffered from large-scale job cuts.

Virgin Money said the new jobs would bring its total workforce to 500.

The group is now looking for city-centre premises for a new operations office, with staff recruitment expected to begin early next year, ahead of the spring launch date set for Virgin Bank.

UK mobile phone giant Vodafone, the world's biggest mobile operator by revenue, has announced the sale of its 3.2 per cent stake in China Mobile for around £4.3 billion.

The sale is the first of what is expected to be several sales of minority holdings as part of Newbury-based Vodafone’s strategy to focus on core markets as it tries to improve its share price.

The buyers of the stake, of which it is thought there may be several, have not been identified.

Royal Dutch Shell is in exclusive talks with the Finnish fuel distributor St1 to sell the oil major's Swedish refinery, it has been announced.

The Gothenburg refinery has simple-to-medium complexity, allowing it to process low-sulphur light crude from the North Sea; but not high-sulphur crude.

With a processing capacity of about 78,000 barrels of crude oil per day, the refinery supplies the domestic market with specialist fuels, such as diesel that does not freeze in the cold Scandinavian climate.

UK oil giant BP has revived the sale of its Alaskan assets after failing to sell them to US oil and gas company Apache in July, according to a report in the Financial Times.

Houston-based Apache is said to be still in the running to purchase the assets, while US-based Occidental Petroleum is also seen as a potential bidder.

The FT said it is not yet known whether BP is planning to sell its entire 26 per cent stake in the giant Prudhoe Bay oilfield, which includes the operating rights.

Retailers from Europe and Asia are in an auction battle for the south-east Asian assets of the French supermarket chain Carrefour.

The French company put the stores on the market after a strategic decision to withdraw from Asian countries where it stood no chance of becoming market leader.

The portfolio consists of 40 supermarkets in Thailand, 19 in Malaysia and two in Singapore; and is expected to fetch around €780 million.

Africa-focused oil company Afren has announced strong interim results on the back of higher oil prices, and looks set to double production this year.

The London-based company recorded pre-tax profits for the six months to 30 June of $75.4 million (approximately €59.2 million).