Europe

Scottish oil explorer Cairn Energy has announced the acquisition of Agora Oil & Gas, a private Norwegian company with non-operated, exploration, appraisal and development assets in the United Kingdom and Norwegian North Sea.

The transaction is subject to consent from the relevant regulatory authorities in the UK and Norway.

Agora will add drilling activity to Cairn's 2012 exploration and appraisal programme, with nine wells, eight firm and one contingent, scheduled to be drilled in the UK and Norway in 2012.

Rolls-Royce has won a £24 million order to design and equip four offshore service vessels to be built by COSCO (Guangdong) Shipyard in China.

The Rolls-Royce UT 771 CDL vessels will feature a fully integrated equipment system including highly efficient diesel electric propulsion, deck machinery, bulk handling equipment and automation and control systems.

The vessels will be equipped for transporting pipes, equipment and cargo to and from pipe-laying barges, oil drilling and production platforms, as well as for fire fighting.

Drinks maker William Grant & Sons is investing €35 million into a new distillery in Ireland for the production of Tullamore Dew whiskey.

The new distillery is to be built on a 58-acre site in Tullamore, Co. Offaly. The location of the facility is close to the site where the whiskey was originally made, which closed in 1954. Work on the new site is expected to be completed by the end of 2014.

The UK government is set to announce a £350 million contract to refit one of its nuclear submarines in a move that will secure 2,000 jobs.

The work, which will be carried out at Babcock's Devonport Dockyard in Plymouth, will include fitting the Royal Navy's HMS Vengeance with a new reactor core, as well as refitting and refuelling of the vessel.

Equipment on board the submarine will be completely overhauled, with missile launch capabilities improved and computer systems upgraded. The work programme is expected to last between three and four years.

Electronic systems provider API Technologies has completed the acquisition of UK-based C-MAC Aerospace Ltd for £20.95 million (approximately $33 million).

With facilities in Great Yarmouth and Milton Keynes, UK, C-MAC is a leading provider of high-reliability electronic systems, modules, and components to the defense, aerospace, space, industrial, and energy sectors.

Scotland’s energy minister Fergus Ewing has announced a new £103 million investment fund designed to drive the growth of renewable energy in Scotland.

The Renewable Energy Investment Fund (REIF) will initially focus on supporting communities and rural businesses to develop their own local renewable projects. It will also support district heating, and wave and tidal developers with the development and deployment of array projects.

Plans have been announced for the development of a new low-carbon power plant west of Edinburgh.

Summit Power Group, a Seattle-based developer of low-carbon electric power projects, has entered into an agreement with National Grid and Petrofac to seek funding for the development—which would include full-chain, commercial-scale carbon capture and storage—at the Port of Grangemouth on the Firth of Forth.

Wessex Exploration has received a surprise takeover offer from French oil major Total, sending the Bristol-based company’s shares rocketing by over 30 per cent.

Total said it is looking to buy Wessex, which has interests in the south of England and offshore Africa, for around £71 million.

Dutch logistics giant TNT Express is to be acquired by its US-based rival UPS for €5.16 billion, it has been announced.

The two companies said the combined entity will create a global leader in the logistics industry with annual revenues of more than €45 billion.

TNT Express delivers close to one million consignments, from documents and parcels to palletized freight, each day. The company operates road and air transport networks in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Asia-Pacific and the Americas. In 2011, the company had revenues of €7.25 billion.