ZUG, Switzerland (August 1, 2014) – Weatherford International plc closed the sale of the company’s land drilling and workover operations in Russia and Venezuela to Rosneft on July 31, 2014. The consideration was $500 million in cash. With the conclusion of this transaction, Weatherford’s remaining Russian revenue base declined from 7 percent of total company revenue in the first half of 2014 to 3 percent on a pro forma basis.

EXTON, Penn. (July 31, 2014) – NETZSCH Pumps North America, LLC, named Todd Rogers as the regional sales manager in charge of sales and operations for the sales and service center in Odessa, Texas, reporting to the business field oil & gas upstream manager, Lindy Dekle.

JUBAIL, Saudi Arabia (July 31, 2014) – The Dow Chemical Company awarded Fluor Corporation the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for its reverse osmosis (RO) manufacturing facility in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Located in Jubail Industrial City II at the Sadara Chemical Company complex, the facility will locally manufacture high-tech RO elements that purify water for drinking and industrial uses.

KYOTO, Japan (July 31, 2014) – Nidec Corporation announced that one of its consolidated subsidiaries, Nidec Tosok Corporation, completed the purchase of land in the state of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, for a planned construction of NIDEC TOSOK de MEXICO, S.A. de C.V. established in May 2014. The new company slated for construction will mainly undertake the manufacture of automatic transmission control valves targeted at the North American automobile market.

SCHAFFHAUSEN, Switzerland (July 31, 2014) – Xylem Inc. provided dewatering equipment to assist with the relief effort following devastating floods in the Balkans in May. More than 40 people were killed and thousands more displaced during the worst flooding to hit the region in more than a century. The flooding began in mid-May when average rainfall for three months’ fell in just three days, with Serbia and Bosnia being the worst affected areas.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (July 30, 2014) – While oil and gas activity in West Africa is nothing new, it is the activity in East Africa that is creating a stir among exploration companies and their suppliers.

BRAINTREE, Mass. (July 30, 2014) – Altra Industrial Motion Corp. announced the acquisition of Guardian Industries, Inc. Guardian manufactures shaft couplings, motion control couplings, flywheel couplings, hydraulic pump drives, compressor drives and PTO shafts and bearing supports. The company has a dedicated workforce of 47 people and had 2013 revenues of $10 million.

WILMINGTON, Mass. (July 29, 2014) – Koch Membrane Systems (KMS), a manufacturer of membranes and membrane filtration systems, appointed Hatem Bouattour as an independent sales representative. In this capacity, he will assist KMS with the marketing and sales of its water and wastewater products for the region, including Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria, and provide a French-speaking liaison between KMS and end-users and engineers within that part of the world.