The┬ásecond round of bidding opens today for contracts to develop the worldÔÇÖs third-largest oil reserves in Iraq.

AOL will begin trading today on the New York Stock Exchange as an independent company for the first time in eight years.  Today, the two companies will go their separate ways eight years after their $160 billion merger in 2001. Each will be a smaller version of what they were a decade ago. AOL, once the largest dial-up internet service provider in the US, will be preparing to do battle with Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft in the $29 billion US online advertising market.

French construction firm Technip has won a Ôé¼65 million contract for an offshore project in Egypt.

CanadaÔÇÖs First Quantum Minerals is buying BHP Billiton's Ravensthorpe nickel mine on Western AustraliaÔÇÖs south coast for $340 million.  The Vancouver, BC-based mining company plans to resume operations at the site, which was mothballed in January due to falling nickel prices, within 18 months. The mine was originally designed to process low-grade nickel laterite ore. The site cost BHP $2.2 billion to build but led to around $3.6 billion in writedowns after less than 12 months in operation. Almost 2,000 workers lost their jobs when the site was shut down.

The German car maker Volkswagen (VW) has announced it will acquire 19.9 per cent of JapanÔÇÖs Suzuki Motor Corp. by January 2010.

Exxon Mobil Corp., the largest oil company in the US, has approved with partners the development of a $15 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) joint venture in Papua New Guinea, it has been announced.  The joint venture will be the countryÔÇÖs biggest resource project, and will supply LNG to China, Japan and Taiwan.  Irving, Texas-based Exxon and its Papua New Guinea partners will build a plant near Port Moresby, the nationÔÇÖs capital city, with the capacity to produce 6.6 million metric tons of LNG a year.

Heineken has joined forces with Bangalore-based United Breweries Limited (UBL), the maker of Kingfisher, in a deal that will allow the Dutch brewer to produce and distribute its brand of lager in one of the worldÔÇÖs fastest-growing beer markets.

Global mining giant Rio Tinto has sold its 50 per cent stake in the Hydrogen Energy International Ltd (HEIL) joint venture in order to focus on a similar project in California.  HEIL owns an interest in the Hydrogen Power Abu Dhabi (HPAD) project, which seeks to create cleaner electricity by storing gas emissions that would act as feedstock for a hydrogen power station. For the past two years, HEIL has been responsible for the development of the HPAD project.  Rio and BP set up HEIL in 2007 to develop clean energy projects globally.

Global mining giant Rio Tinto has sold its 50 per cent stake in the Hydrogen Energy International Ltd (HEIL) joint venture to its partner BP, it has been announced.

General Motors has agreed to buy out SuzukiÔÇÖs stake in Cami Automotive, the two companiesÔÇÖ joint venture in Canada.  Suzuki, which holds 50 percent in Cami, will sell its interest in the joint venture on request from GM, bringing the 20-year partnership to a close and transferring full control back to the Detroit-based automaker.  The price of the stake has not been disclosed, although its value is thought to be around C$49 million ($46.5 million).Established in 1986, Ingersoll, Ontario-based Cami started production in 1989.