A consortium led by Italian energy giant ENI has won the contract to exploit IraqÔÇÖs Zubair oilfield, following a successful first round bid.

The New York-based insurance giant American International Group (AIG) has agreed to sell its Taiwanese life insurance unit for $2.15 billion. The Taiwan business, Nan Shan Life, has been sold to Hong Kong-based Primus Financial, a new financial services firm run by former Citigroup executive Robert Morse. Primus has teamed up with Hong Kong-based China Strategic Holdings to make the purchase.

UAE-based firm Dana Gas has discovered gas reserves in Egypt totalling 86 billion cubic feet.

The copper division of mining giant Xstrata has agreed to sell its 70 percent interest in El Morro SCM, the holder of Chilean copper-gold project El Morro, to Canadian mining firm Barrick Gold Corp.┬á  El Morro has been sold for $465 million.  Zug, Switzerland-based Xstrata has said it is seeking to better direct its resources towards other development projects, five of which will reach final decision stage within the next few months.

The copper division of mining giant Xstrata has agreed to sell its 70 per cent interest in El Morro SCM, the holder of Chilean copper-gold project El Morro.

DetroitÔÇÖs General Motors (GM) is nearing the sale of its Hummer business to ChinaÔÇÖs Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery for around $150 million. The deal will mark the first major acquisition of US automotive assets by China since the start of the global downturn. Industry insiders have suggested that the deal may close as early as today. When GM initially announced the sale of Hummer in June, it expected the brand would fetch around $500 million. Tengzhong has said that under the terms of the agreement, it will keep HummerÔÇÖs headquarters in Detroit and re

UK oil company BP has entered into a partnership with China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) to develop the Rumaila oilfield in Iraq.

The worldÔÇÖs third largest aluminum producer, Pennsylvania-based Alcoa Inc, has announced surprise third quarter profits thanks to an increase in worldwide aluminum demand.  The results beat the expectations of analysts, who predicted the Pittsburgh company to post a loss for the period ending September 30.  AlcoaÔÇÖs total revenue was up nine percent from the previous quarter, with profits reaching $77 million.  Alcoa said that rising demand across several industries, notably the automotive sector, had lifted its revenue compared with the preceding three months.

Northam Platinum, which operates the worldÔÇÖs deepest platinum mine, has announced it will start construction of a new R6 billion (Ôé¼553 million) mine at its Booysendal site in South Africa.

Texas oil giant ExxonMobil has bought a stake in oil blocks off the coast of Ghana in a deal worth $4 billion.  The stake was bought from Dallas-based firm Kosmos Energy, which owns just over 30 percent in the West Cape Three Points block and 18 percent in the Deepwater Tano block, both of which form part of the Jubilee field.  A large number of major international oil and gas companies were among bidders for the Kosmos asset.