Simrit Oil & Gas, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Freudenberg-NOK General Partnership, announced the acquisition of the assets of Petroleum Elastomers of Houston, a manufacturer of specialized custom sealing components for the oil and gas industry. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Petroleum Elastomers molds a wide range of elastomeric products but is widely known [...]

Demand from China and India has pushed the value of metals up - tin reached an all-time high last week of more than $25,000 (£12,792) a tonne.
That is four times the value of tin when South Crofty mine near Camborne closed 10 years ago.
The mine’s owners want to re-open it next year and there are [...]

Origin Energy Ltd, Australia’s second biggest electricity and gas retailer, has forecast a stronger second half after delivering a 43.5 per cent increase in interim profit.
The power retailer delivered a half year profit of $334.7 million for the six months to December 31, 2007, compared to $233.1 million in the previous corresponding period.
“Based on current [...]

Origin Energy said on Thursday it expects a strong second half after delivering a fall in underlying profit for first half results, propelling the shares in the gas and electricity retailer as much as 8.6% higher.
Shares in ORG ended a five-day losing streak, climbing 63 cents or 7.9% to finish at $8.55.
The Sydney-based company posted [...]

The new Democratic-led U.S. Congress is promoting energy policies that focus more on renewable energy than oil and natural gas drilling, but some officials are still determined to open more federal lands to energy exploration.
Speaking at an energy policy forum Tuesday, pro-drilling lawmakers Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., said they want [...]

Xcel Energy wants to boost capacity and reduce emissions at its coal-fired Sherco power plant in Becker, Minn., with a $900 million expansion. The proposal would add 140 megawatts of electricity to Sherco’s current 2,400-megawatt capacity and use state-of-the-art technology to reduce emissions of mercury, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and soot, Xcel officials said Thursday. [...]

A company planning to operate a phosphate mine in Hardee County says Lee County officials have heard only part of the story in opposing the project.
“None of the commissioners have ever contacted Mosaic,” said David Townsend, spokesman at Plymouth, Minn.-based Mosaic Co., which proposes to mine 4,197 acres of a 20,000-acre property known as the [...]