Oil and gas exploration in the North Sea is continuing apace with the award of a new licence in the UK 26th Licensing Round to a Northern Petroleum subsidiary.

The new licence is located offshore adjacent to Northern's Isle of Wight onshore licence, PEDL 240, which was awarded in May 2008. The part blocks—98/13 and 98/14—cover the offshore extension from PEDL 240 of a prospect that was mapped prior to 2008.

Two mineral exploration licences have been granted to the Gold & Minerals JV (G&M) by Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Ministry for Mineral Resources, for a period of five years.

KEFI Minerals, an AIM-quoted gold and copper exploration company, is the operating partner of G&M, holding a 40 per cent interest. To date the company has a total of three granted exploration licences and a total of 15 exploration licence applications in the Middle Eastern country.

Global M&A activity for upstream oil and gas deals in 2011 totaled $170 billion in 726 deals, according to a new report.

The report from PLS, Inc. in conjunction with international partner Derrick Petroleum Services, includes all upstream oil and gas deals with values disclosed.

"Total deal value in 2011 dropped 19 percent from 2010 record levels, yet the number of deals increased 15 percent to a record of 726,” said Ronyld W Wise, president of Houston-based PLS, Inc.

French automotive components manufacturer Valeo has acquired 80 per cent of the China-based lighting specialist Ruby.

Chery Technology, a subsidiary of the Chinese automotive manufacturer Chery Automobile, will retain a 20 per cent stake in the company, to be renamed Wuhu Valeo Automotive Lighting Systems.

The new joint venture will design, manufacture and sell Valeo Lighting Systems products—predominantly for Chery Automobile in the Chinese market—and will be integrated within Valeo’s Visibility Systems Business Group.

For the second year in a row, Amazon's Kindle has become the biggest selling product of the year on Amazon.co.uk.

The e-reading device topped the annual bestseller list in a big year for the Brits with Adele, The Inbetweeners and The King's Speech all featuring in the top ten along with three entries from the boy wizard Harry Potter.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is to purchase 84 new Boeing F-15 fighter aircraft from the US government and upgrade 70 of its existing F-15s.

Boeing chairman, president and CEO Jim McNerney welcomed the announcement. "For Boeing, this agreement represents the continuation of an enduring partnership between the company and the Kingdom that dates back to 1945 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt presented a DC-3 Dakota airplane to King Abdulaziz Al-Saud, the founder of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," he said.

Bombardier Transportation has secured an additional order for 130 of its Electrostar rail carriages from UK rail operator Southern, in a contract valued at £189 million (€227 million/$296 million).

“We are delighted to be awarded this contract by Southern. This is a significant project which emphasises the performance of Bombardier’s products in the UK,” said Paul Roberts, chief country representative and president of Bombardier Transportation, Services UK and Passenger Fleet Management Service Line. 

ThermoEnergy Corp has announced the completion of a 28,000 square foot expansion of the manufacturing facility at its Worcester, Massachusetts corporate headquarters.

The expansion will more than double the manufacturing space available to ThermoEnergy, a diversified technologies company engaged in the development and sale of municipal and industrial wastewater recovery and clean power generation technologies.

Toyota is planning to increase production by 24 percent in 2012 as it recovers from the effects of the Japanese earthquake and the floods in Thailand.

The company said it plans to produce almost 8.5 million vehicles next year (Lexus and Toyota brands) and to increase sales by 20 percent to 8.65 million.

Figures released a few days ago show that Toyota aims to increase production in Japan by 23 percent to 3.4 million and overseas by 25 percent to 5.25 million.