Royal Dutch Shell says it has agreed to buy oil and gas exploration firm BG Group in a deal that values the business at £47 (US$70) billion. The deal could be one of the biggest of 2015 and could produce a company with a value of more than £200 billion. BG's market capitalisation now stands at £31 billion.

According to company filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Jennifer Straumins and Tim Barnhart resigned from Calumet Specialty Products Partners L.P.’s general partner last month. Straumins, executive vice president of strategy and development, resigned on March 31. Barnhart. executive vice president of operations, resigned on March 11.

Gulf Oil Middle East Ltd is in talks to acquire at least one blending plant and launch a series of joint ventures in Africa, according to a senior company executive. Egypt, Morocco, Tanzania, South Africa and Nigeria were identified as major growth markets, but the specific countries in which talks for joint ventures and acquisitions are taking place were not identified.

OOO LLK-International, a wholly-owned subsidiary of OAO LUKOIL, announced last week it will supply LUKOIL-branded lubricants to the assembly facility and the service centers of OOO MAN Truck & Bus RUS, a subsidiary of MAN SE. The lubes will be used in trucks and buses of the MAN and NEOPLAN brands manufactured and serviced in Russia.

Yuchai Group, together with PETRONAS Lubricants International, recently launched the Guangxi Nanning Yuchai PETRONAS Lube Co., Ltd, Research & Development Centre (R&D) in Nanning Science & Technology Industrial Park. Built over a 1,000 square meter area, the new R&D Centre is located within the Yuchai Engineering Research Institute in Nanning.

Last Wednesday, Total Lubmarine opened new laboratory facilities at its main research centre in Solaize, near Lyon in France. The new facilities are dedicated to the research and formulation of new marine lubricants and equipped with state of the art equipment to support the research team's quest to develop the next generation of lubes for the shipping sector.

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