Amman - The Jordanian government will sign a "strategic partnership agreement" at the end of April with British Petroleum and four affiliated companies for the development of the Risheh gas field near the Iraqi border, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Khaldoun Quteishat was quoted as saying Saturday.

The accord, now in its final negotiation stage, is the largest gas venture in the country eventually involving a multi-billion-dollar investment, he told the daily newspaper al-Rai.

Kathmandu, Apr 4: An Indian company and a Nepali firm have recently formed a joint venture company - USP Wind and Power System - in Kathmandu to tap wind to generate electricity.

"This company aims to tap wind to generate electricity in the Kathmandu Valley and remote districts. Wind energy projects can play a vital role in rural electrification," said Surendra Bahadur Singh, executive director of the joint venture.

Vienna - Jumping by nearly 3 dollars, the pri

Manila  - The Asian Development Bank said Friday that it was extending a 151-million-dollar loan to help Vietnam expand and improve electricity services in poor and remote communities.

The Manila-based bank said the loan would fund a project to develop up to 10 mini-hydropower plants to serve communities in mountainous areas in north and central Vietnam.

It would also provide financial support to the government's ongoing rural electrification programme.

With the most recent two project orders valued Rs. 1,344 crore from Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL), Larsen and Toubro this week has booked five large orders worth Rs. 5177 crore.

By and large, these contracts are from government units - including Rail Vikas Nigam; Power Grid Corporation; Nuclear Power Corporation; and now MRPL. Over and above these large orders, the engineering and construction major L&T also has quite a few smaller orders in its kitty, pertaining to the company's other unannounced businesses.

The Bangalore-based Navratna defence PSU Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) has reported a `provisional' turnover of Rs. 4,618 crore for the year 2008-09, indicating a 12 percent increase over the year-before turnover figures of Rs. 4,102.54 crore.

In terms of the turnover per employee, figures depicted a year-on-year increase from Rs. 33.16 lakh to Rs. 38.6 lakh. The value added per employee also depicted an increase from Rs. 16 lakh to Rs. 18 lakh, as BEL exports also went up nearly 15 percent - from $15.43 million to $17.75 million.