ConocoPhillips and Total are planning to quadruple capacity at their oil sands project near Fort McMurray in Alberta.  The second phase of the Surmont project will expand capacity from 27,000 to 110,000 barrels of bitumen per day by 2015.

The German automaker Volkswagen is building a plant in southern China to manufacture Seat brand cars, it has been reported.

Illinois-based Kraft Foods has confirmed it is finalizing a deal to take over the British confectioner Cadbury, bringing the four-month battle between the two companies to a close.

US conglomerate Kraft Foods has confirmed it is finalising a deal to take over the chocolate maker Cadbury, bringing the four-month battle between the two companies to a close.

Tullow Oil, the FTSE 100 oil exploration and production group headquartered in London, is seeking to take full control of two oil fields it discovered in Uganda with partner Heritage Oil.

Hershey is likely to make a bid of roughly $18 billion for the UK confectioner Cadbury, it has been reported.  According to the Wall Street Journal, Hershey is putting the finishing touches on a financial package that is based on a loan of approximately $10 billion from banks including JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.  The WSJ also says the offer is likely to include $5 billion in new Hershey shares and at least $3 billion from private investors.

Royal Dutch Shell and MalaysiaÔÇÖs state-owned oil company Petronas have signed a contract to develop IraqÔÇÖs Majnoon oilfield.

Japanese cosmetics giant Shiseido has announced it will buy San Francisco-based cosmetics company Bare Escentuals for $1.7 billion.

Car sales in Europe rose by 16 per cent in December, an indication that the sector is making a gradual recovery after a challenging year.

Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Microsoft have announced they will spend $250 million over three years to simplify servers and cloud computing for business customers.