Business news digest

Total's UK subsidiary is appealing the court decision that is was responsible for the Buncefield explosions on 11 Dec 2005 and solely liable for indemnifying the victims. Meanwhile, the company said that it has insurance cover for damages to its interests in these facilities, business interuption and civil liability claims from third parties. "Based on information currently available, on a rasonable estimate of its liability and on provisions recognised, this accident should not have a significant impact on the group's financial situation or consolidated results," Total stated.

Emerson acquired Roxar ASA, which provides subsea reservoir management and production optimisation for global upstream exploration and production customers. to create, what it claims is, the world’s first integrated automation solutions company whose products span from subsea oil and gas reservoirs, to platform and floating production, to transmission, and ultimately through refining and production of goods. Stavanger, Norway-based Roxar has annual revenue of Euro150 million.

The economic downturn has had a pronounced impact on demand and the price of oil. Despite this, massive investments are still needed to ensure the industry has enough production capacity to meet future demand. Automation expenditures by the upstream oil and gas sector, which includes exploration, production, and pipelines, are expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of nine percent over the next five years. The market was $6.9 billion in 2007 and is forecasted to grow to $10.4 billion by 2012, according to a new ARC Advisory Group study. Read more

Pumps and valves manufacturer KSB has reported record fiscal 2008 earnings (EBT) of Eur200m on sales of Euro1,992m, while order intake lifted 12.7% to Euro2,179m. The performance far exceeded expectations at the beginning of the financial year, said the company, noting that two-thirds of order growth was in the energy and water sectors. Turning to the current financial year, KSB noted a markedly changed market environment. While the consolidated sales revenue from January to March 2009 grew by 8.4% to Euro471 million compared with the same quarter in the previous year, order intake in the first three months of 2009 fell by 11% to Euro512.7 million. Read more

In the latest issue of the Deloitte Economic Review, economic adviser Roger Bootle predicts a mini-revival for UK manufacturing sector on the basis that the sector has already "shrunk too much." Over the next decade, he said, manufacturing’s share of the economy could temporarily grow from 11% to 13%. In contrast, the financial sector’s share could shrink from 8% to more like 5%. 'The drop in the value of Sterling will help the UK to play to its traditional exporting strengths – such as pharmaceuticals and aircraft. Moreover, the trade deficit can be reduced, and aggregate demand boosted, just as easily by lower imports as by higher exports,' argued Bootle.

Bosch Rexroth has acquired a majority share in IGUS ITS GmbH, which develops and manufactures condition monitoring systems for wind energy plants. The Dresden, Germany-based company has employees and had a 2008 turnover of about Euro700,000.

Royal Dutch Shell¹s first quarter 2009 earnings were $3.3 billion compared to $7.8 billion a year ago, while cash flow from operating activities was $7.6 billion. Upstream oil and gas volumes were impacted by ongoing security challenges in Nigeria, OPEC quota restrictions and weakening industrial demand for natural gas. Refinery intake and marketing and chemicals sales volumes were impacted by the weak economic environment across all regions. CEO Jeroen van der Veer said the Q1 performance was affected by "the weaker global economy, with a challenging upstream and downstream business environment ... Industry conditions remain challenging, and our focus is on capital discipline and costs."

BP has reported replacement cost profit before interest and tax for the first quarter was $4,320 million, a decrease of 57% compared with the first quarter of 2008. This decrease was primarily due to lower realizations and lower earnings from equity-accounted entities, primarily TNK-BP due to lower prices and the effect of lagged tax reference prices. This was partly offset by significantly lower costs, the impact of higher reported volumes and a strong contribution from the gas marketing and trading business. Unit production costs were 11% lower than in the first quarter of 2008.

China is climbing up the world innovation rankings faster than other countries. Since the Economist Intelligence Unit first published its global innovation index two years ago, China has moved up from 59th to 54th in the rankings-an improvement we thought would take five years has been achieved in just two. According to the study, A new ranking of the worlds most innovative countries, which was sponsored by Cisco, other gainers include India and Turkey. But while the emerging markets are moving up the pecking order, the developed world still hogs the top spots-Japan and Switzerland remain first and second respectively in the league table. The ranking compares 82 countries by their innovativeness and looks at the factors that bring this about.

Gazprom and Shell have recently signed agreements for the purchase of LNG by both Shell Eastern Trading Ltd and Gazprom Global LNG from Sakhalin Energy Investment Co. Deliveries to Gazprom and Shell begin in 2009 and will last until 2028, totaling 1 mtpa each to Gazprom and Shell at plateau. The agreements also include a new pipeline gas agreement for the delivery of an equivalent volume of gas to Shell in Europe. Through this 20-year agreement Shell will be able to strengthen the diversification and flexibility of its supply portfolio and its marketing position in the European gas market. Gazprom affiliates will also take capacity in Sempra's Energia Costa Azul LNG import terminal in Baja California, Mexico, and pipeline capacity to enable gas to be transported to Southern California.

There is no single overriding factor cited by users when selecting industrial temperature controllers, according to a recent study conducted by VDC Research Group. “Suppliers of industrial electronic temperature controllers are undergoing an increase in competition from alternative means of control loop implementations, such as PLCs, PCs, and DCSs,” Robert Torres, analyst at VDC. ”Thus, VDC suppliers need to focus on capturing market share by investing in meeting the selection criteria of users ... Vendors should concentrate on offering reliable, low-cost products with good performance that are easy to use and simple and straightforward to order, receive, install, and maintain.”

The annual Sunday Times PricewaterhouseCoopers Profit Track 100 features Britain’s 100 private companies with the fastest-growing profits measured over the last three years of latest available audited accounts. This year 21 manufacturing and engineering companies have made it onto the table. Read more