Business news for Mon, 17 Dec 2007 & with word production. 12 news.

Winnipeg's Fort Garry Brewing has launched production of a new, gluten-free beer called Nubru, brewed without barley for people with celiac disease.

CHINA will encourage the exploration and production of unconventional energy sources, such as oil shale, oil sands and natural gas hydrate, according to the 2007 edition of the guidelines for industrial restructuring. Sources with the National Development and Reform Commission said yesterday that development of these unconventional reserves would be supported by loans and tax breaks in the next few years. Last Friday, the NDRC - the country's top economic planning agency - began soliciting public opinion on the 2007 edition of the guidelines. A recent report by the Boston Consulting Group said China has expressed willingness to cooperate with multinational energy companies to develop unconventional reserves to increase supplies. China hopes to improve energy security by developing unconventional resources. The report said China's unconventional reserves were 16 times as large as conventional reserves. For instance, deposits of oil shale were estimated at two trillion tons in

PRODUCTION of China's first home-made regional jet is expected to be completed this week, Xinhua news agency said yesterday, citing the Commission of Science Technology and Industry for National Defense. The ARJ21-700 commercial passenger jet, which seats 78 to 90 people, will make its first flight in March and be delivered to the first customers in 2009. The plane was designed and made by the China Aviation Industry Corp.

SINGAPORE'S exports unexpectedly dropped for the first time in six months in November as shipments by electronics companies and pharmaceutical manufacturers slumped. Non-oil domestic exports sank 3.4 percent from a year earlier following a revised 6.5 percent gain in October, the government's trade promotion agency said. The median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 12 economists was for a 4.5-percent increase. Singapore's electronic shipments have declined each month since February as a global inventory glut caused prices for memory chips and microprocessors to fall. "We don't see a lot of impetus for an early recovery in electronics, especially given the uncertainty over the outlook for the global economy," said Ho Woei Chen, an analyst at United Overseas Bank Ltd in Singapore. "The volatility in exports and production in the pharmaceutical sector remains." Exports dropped a seasonally adjusted six percent last month from October, when they fell a

NEW YORK - Oil prices fell Monday when an OPEC official said the cartel may increase production, calming concerns about tight supplies.

As many late-night TV shows plan their return, GE's NBC warns it may use the writers strike to cancel production deals.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - One item may be missing from holiday parties this year: George Dickel Whisky No. 8. It's scarce because the Dickel distillery shut down production from 1999 to 2003, trying to reduce inventory of the Tennessee sippin' whiskey...

Brasserie Ruhlmann, the latest dining import from New York, is every bit the grand theatrical production Chicago anticipated. From backdrop to casting (cue music with swell, scurrying waiter), this French steakhouse plays to the balconies. Think Toulouse-Lautrec channeled through early ...

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Plains Exploration & Production Company on Monday said it would sell oil and gas properties to Occidental Petroleum and XTO Energy for $1.75 billion. The Houston energy firm also set plans to buy back $1 billion in stock and spend $1.15 billion on its 2008 capital budget. "The oil and gas property divestments balance PXP's asset portfolio and align operator strengths to specific assets maximizing efficiencies and returns," PXP Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Flores said in a statement. (An earlier version of this item incorrectly omitted the transaction with XTO Energy.)

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Rio Tinto said it's going to invest $300 million in the development of Eagle, a high-grade nickel and copper mine in Michigan. Eagle, in northwest Marquette County near the City of Marquette, will be the only primary nickel mine in the U.S. and first production is expected to begin in late 2009. Eagle is projected to deliver 16,000 metric tons of nickel per year over seven years until 2016. It will also produce valuable co-products of copper, platinum, palladium and cobalt. Rio Tinto is also in final contract negotiation to develop a nickel mine at Sulawesi in Indonesia, with an initial operation of 46,000 metric tons per year with first production commencing by 2015.

Pittsburgh may need to do its post-industrial best to pose for the apocalypse.

Faced with indefinite suspension of negotiations, the union representing striking Hollywood writers said it would deal directly with Hollywood studios & production companies, bypassing the umbrella organization that has been representing them.