Bob Dudley, the new chief executive of UK oil giant BP, has signed a deal to develop a major natural gas field in Azerbaijan.

The agreement is to develop the deepwater Shafaq-Asiman field, which lies 125 kilometres south-east of Baku. The deal was signed by Rovnag Abdullayev, president of Azerbaijan’s national oil company SOCAR, and Rashid Javanshir, president of BP Azerbaijan.

The gas field has estimated reserves of 17,000 billion cubic feet, similar to the Shah Deniz gas field (also in Azerbaijan), in which BP has a 25.5 per cent stake.

In a reversal from 2010, the top 20 contract opportunities planned by US federal agencies for fiscal year 2011 are dominated by procurements out of defense agencies.

According to a new report, Top 20 Federal Contract Opportunities, published by market research firm INPUT, now owned by Deltek, more than 80 percent of the approximately $142 billion in total contract value for 2011 will be associated with defense agencies.

The Thompson Group of Companies has acquired Applied Instrument Technologies (AIT) from Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation, although financial terms of the purchase were not disclosed. AIT will be organized as a standalone company within The Thompson Group.

AIT manufactures and markets process analytical instruments including Analect FTIR, PIONIR Near-Infrared, MGA Mass Spectrometers, FXi Gas Chromatographs and RPM Raman analyzers, used by refining, petrochemical, chemical, pharmaceutical and steel industries to optimize their production processes.

Russian telecom giant Vimpelcom and Egypt’s Weather Investments have agreed to merge their assets, it has been announced.

The deal, worth $6.6 billion (£4.2 billion), will create the world’s fifth-largest mobile phone company, with combined subscriptions of more than 174 million. It will also give Vimpelcom, which has operations in many former Soviet republics, access to new markets in Africa and the Middle East.

The new company will operate in 20 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa.

The Conference Board of Canada has released a less than conclusive report on BHP Billiton’s hostile $38.6-billion takeover bid for Saskatchewan’s PotashCorp.

The report indicates that there will be little short-term benefit to Canada in terms of jobs if the international mining conglomerate succeeds in its hostile bid for PotashCorp, and that the provincial government’s tax revenue could be hit by as much as C$2 billion over the next ten years.

Strong international trading in the second quarter of this year has helped to boost half-year profits at UK supermarket giant Tesco.

Sales in Asia jumped by 12 per cent, European sales grew by nine per cent and US sales rose sharply by 45 per cent during the second quarter.

UK sales in the first quarter were almost flat, growing by just 1.1 per cent. However in the second quarter sales picked up, growing by four per cent.

Dr. Abdullah Telmesani offers a simple but profound test for making ethical decisions in business—a useful guide for board members and executive committees to clarify the ethical basis for executive choices.

Thomas R. Cutler outlines the advantages of simultaneous picking strategies in light-directed order fulfillment: pick-to-light, pick-to-display, and now build-to-light.

Bob Vormittag, CEO, VAI, discusses the essential components for any business to compete in the new economy—improve practices, enhance customer service and perfect product lines.

Kenneth H. Marks offers a framework for planning successful deals.

Merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions can be a viable alternative for accomplishing a number of strategic objectives for emerging growth and middle-market companies (those from startup to several hundred million dollars in revenue). Let’s take a high-level view of the buy-side and sell-side processes, and a framework for thinking about and planning each.