Schlumberger opened the earnings season for the oilfield services sector with higher profit that nonetheless missed Wall Street forecasts. Income in the January-March quarter was $1.34 billion, or $1.09 a share, compared with $1.18 billion, or 96 cents a share, in the 2007 period. Revenue rose to $6.29 billion from $5.46 billion.
On average, analysts surveyed [...]

Halliburton Co. is thinking about buying U.K.-based Expro International Group PLC in an all-cash deal.
Halliburton confirmed talks with Expro after a private equity consortium led by London-based Candover Group said it will buy Expro for $3.2 billion.
In a statement, Halliburton said its cash offer would top Candover’s but gave no specifics.
Expro provides services and products [...]

Twelve more rigs are actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. this week compared to last week.
Baker Hughes Inc. says 1,461 are exploring for natural gas and 355 for oil and eleven are considered “miscellaneous.” That brings the total to 1,827. A year ago, the rig count stood at 1,769.
This week 63 [...]

Analysts cheered SunPower Inc., a day after the solar company said its first-quarter net income soared to $12.8 million, or 15 cents per share, from $1.2 million or 2 cents per share a year ago. The company also expects second-quarter earnings to triple first-quarter results.
PacificCrest analyst Mark Bachman in a client note said domestic demand [...]

At the same time, shares of Evergreen Solar Inc. headed in the opposite direction, losing $1.17, or 10.9 percent, at $9.60. The company narrowed its first-quarter loss to $25,000 — roughly break-even per share — compared with a loss of $6.2 million or 9 cents per share a year ago.
But investors were disappointed with Evergreen’s [...]

Waste Management, Inc. opened a renewable energy facility at a company landfill in Virginia. The company says the landfill’s methane gas will produce 4.8 megawatts of electricity — enough energy to power more than 4,700 homes.
The plant is part of Waste Management’s plan to build 60 renewable energy facilities over the next five years. Currently, [...]

Oil prices hit a record high $117 a barrel Friday as jitters over Nigerian oil supplies outweighed a rally in the dollar and fears of an economic slowdown in giant energy consumer China.
U.S. light crude settled up $1.83 at $116.96 a barrel, before hitting a record $117. London Brent crude gained $1.49 to $113.92.
Oil prices [...]

The government has agreed to grant a demand from mining company Rio Tinto for a fixed-rate tax facility for its US$3 billion nickel project in Sulawesi, providing leeway for other mining giants to receive similar privileges.
Chairman of the Investment Coordinating Board Muhammad Luthfi told reporters Monday the government had agreed to provide the company with [...]

A new arrangement in the mining bill which limits land for mining use may not spook potential mining investors, as long as the government provides legal certainty for the future of operations, an association says.
Indonesian Mining Association (IMA) executive director Priyo Pribadi Soemarno told The Jakarta Post on Monday that investors should not see the [...]

Murli Deora, the petroleum minister of India, has reconfirmed his visit next week to Islamabad to pick up the pieces of the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline that faltered amidst a row between the two countries and Pakistan’s internal political strife.
Deora will also announce its formal partnership in the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline, the Business Standard reports.
“We will meet Pakistan [...]