IBT Staff Reporter

U.S. Apache Corp (APA) is to sign three oil and gas deals on Thursday worth $30 million for a total of 14 wells in three areas of Egypt's Western Desert, the Oil Ministry said in a statement.

Enviro Energy International Holdings, plans to drill up to five wells of coal-bed methane/shale gas in Western China this year, and five more in 2010, a top company official said on Thursday.

A proposal by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to oversee a greenhouse gas contract on a voluntary Chicago trading exchange shows the agency is staking out its territory before Congress decides which agencies should regulate the country's burgeoning carbon market.

Federal regulators and the state of Maine have signed an agreement to coordinate on the development of projects that generate power from the ebb and flow of the tides, marking the first such agreement on the technology for the U.S. East Coast.

Emerald Energy Ltd (EMEM) said on Thursday its well no.6 in the Capella field in Colombia encountered net potential hydrocarbon level much higher than the previously recorded levels in the field.

Switzerland sold its stake in its largest bank, UBS, for 5.5 billion Swiss francs ($5.1 billion), a source said on Thursday, making a profit from last year's rescue deal.

Sears Holding Corp reported a quarterly loss on Thursday instead of the profit Wall Street was expecting as the retailer struggled to cut costs to keep up with falling revenues, and its shares fell nearly 13 percent.

China's normally secretive Defense Ministry on Thursday launched a website (www.mod.gov.cn), in a new bid to allay overseas criticism over its military transparency and the build-up of its armed forces.

It just won't go away, this needling worry about the U.S. dollar losing its coveted top-dog status.

Oil prices eased toward $72 a barrel on Thursday, after rising more than 4 percent in the previous session, as optimism faded about the pace of demand recovery in the world's top consumer the United States.

The heads of Canada's Magna and Russian partner Sberbank will meet their General Motors counterpart on Thursday, a person close to the matter said, as decision time nears on the sale of GM's Opel business.

The heads of Canada's Magna and Russian partner Sberbank will meet their General Motors counterpart on Thursday, a person close to the matter said, as decision time nears on the sale of GM's Opel business.

A federal judge has ruled that Bank of America Corp cannot have a lawsuit by investors seeking to force it to buy back mortgages heard in federal court, saying he lacks jurisdiction to decide the case.

The Black Eyed Peas and Jason Mraz will shatter two records for longevity on the Billboard Hot 100 when the singles chart is released Thursday.

After 17 years of late night TV chat, Jay Leno says he's working harder than ever to fill his eagerly-anticipated new prime-time show with comedy.

Before Michael Jackson died, his brothers filmed a one-hour pilot for A&E that was supposed to include a reunion performance with Michael. But he never agreed to it, didn't do it, and died before it could be discussed again.

A stabilizing U.S. financial sector may have freed the White House to trim its 2009 budget deficit projection but the still-record-breaking figure will not make it easier to sell healthcare reform.

A coalition of U.S. state pension funds is supporting the private equity industry's opposition to new rules on takeovers of troubled lenders, the Financial Times reported on its website.

Sears Holding Corp reported a quarterly loss on Thursday as the retailer continues to suffer from the crash of the U.S. housing market.

China Mobile , the world's largest mobile carrier, faces a further squeeze on profit margins as competitive pressures intensify and an expensive buildout of a new, untested 3G network weighs.

PBM Products, a maker of private-label baby foods, is seeking to arrange for a buyout or partial sale of the company, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

U.S. low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines , which lost a bid to buy Frontier Airlines Holdings Inc , may look for another acquisition but would continue to carry conditions with any bid, its chief executive Gary Kelly told the Wall Street Journal in an interview.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria , Spain's second-largest bank, is expected to win a government-run auction of troubled Texas lender Guaranty Financial Group Inc , sources familiar with the situation said on Wednesday.

YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley is putting some of his fortune into Formula One as primary investor in the new U.S. F1 team due to enter the sport next season.

The Obama administration will trim its budget deficit forecast for fiscal 2009 to $1.58 trillion, after scrapping money earmarked for bailing out more banks, officials said on Wednesday.

Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Thursday, mirroring gains in Europe as well as Asia, where Shanghai stocks rebounded from a sharp two-week selloff, and on rallying commodity prices.

China Mobile , the world's largest mobile carrier by subscribers, said on Thursday that its average revenue per user would trend downward in the second half, as competition heats up in the market.

The Swiss government's sale of a 9 percent stake in UBS drew lively bids, traders said on Thursday, with a price range seen above the stock's closing price in the previous session.

Oil was steady above $72 a barrel on Thursday, after rising more than 4 percent the previous day, buoyed by industry data showing a steep drop in crude imports and stockpiles in top consumer the United States.