The Weir Group PLC has agreed to acquire Novatech LLC, a US manufacturer of well service pump valves and valve seats for upstream oil and gas applications, for $176 million (£113 million) in cash.

Based in Dallas, Texas, Novatech is a family-owned business producing a wide variety of proprietary valves and valve seats for high pressure applications such as frac, cement and mud pumps used in unconventional upstream oil and gas operations.

The business is well known to Weir, being a long standing local supplier to Weir SPM.

UK oil and gas producer EnQuest has acquired a further 25 per cent stake in the Kraken oil discovery from Nautical Petroleum.

EnQuest will pay up to $240 million for the stake, together with interests in surrounding exploration acreage, based on the determination of gross reserves.

The acquisition will bring EnQuest’s stake in Kraken up to 45 per cent, following its previous purchase of a 20 per cent stake from oil and gas explorer Canamens earlier this month. Nautical retains a 25 per cent interest, with First Oil holding the remaining 30 per cent.

A new report from the American Chemistry Council suggests that untapped natural gas resources from shale could rejuvenate the economy of the US state of Michigan.

The report concludes that more than 19,000 permanent, high-paying chemical manufacturing jobs could be created in Michigan, revitalizing the state's industrial base, driving economic growth and boosting exports while generating tens of millions of dollars in much-needed state revenue.

The energy regulator Ofgem has agreed to fast-track plans by ScottishPower that will see £2.6 billion invested into power upgrades between 2013 and 2021.

The plans will see the creation of up to 1,500 new jobs in Scotland. 

ScottishPower’s detailed proposals outline investment priorities up to 2021 that will enable upgrades to the electricity network in central and southern Scotland. The plans are also designed to help achieve European carbon reduction targets.

Energy service giant Halliburton today announced net income of $906 million for Q4 2011, and $3 billion for the full year.

Income from continuing operations for the fourth quarter of 2011 was $921 million (excluding a $15 billion environmental-related charge), up from $867 million in the third quarter.

Cost segregation studies deliver earlier than expected tax breaks for US commercial property owners, says Jeffrey D. Hiatt.

Phil Lewis examines the evolution of enterprise software integration and suggests how a business can strike the balance between ensuring integration without becoming a slave to it.

Integration: noun,an act or instance of combining into an integral whole.

Thomas R. Cutler describes the advantages of the omniwheel, the revolutionary alternative to the swivel caster, and heralds the entry of Rotacaster into the next dictionary.

The Kleenex brand is synonymous with tissues. Other brands, like Hoover, have dominated the market to such an extent at times that they have entered the dictionary to describe the concept itself. You don’t search for something online, anymore. You Google it.

George F. Brown, Jr. identifies four themes for business growth in 2012, and offers his unique insight into implementing your New Year resolutions.

Businesses are developing ambitious plans to achieve their growth and profit goals for 2012. In conversations with many organizations, I hear of four themes that are included in many of these plans.

The Mayans predicted that 2012 would bring the end of days. Let’s hope it doesn’t, but it’s sure to be a turbulent year, says Peter Leeds.

Whether the Mayans were right or not remains to be seen, but I am predicting a turbulent year in which major events will play out on the world stage that may forever alter our history. Based on analysis which I conduct for my financial newsletter, the following 12 points are what I'm expecting to see in 2012.