The transaction, which would more than double SpiceJet's 49-plane fleet, may be closed within weeks, after lengthy talks that pitted Boeing against rival Airbus Group SE, sources with direct knowledge of the decision said.

The deal includes firm orders for at least 50 of Boeing's 737 Max model and renegotiated terms for 42 of the single-aisle jets that SpiceJet originally ordered in 2014, the sources added.

The 92 Max jets would be valued at about $10.1 billion at current list prices, before the discounts that are customary for large purchases.

The order would be a record for SpiceJet, which was forced to shut down operations for a day two years ago after it ran out of money, prompting co-founder Ajay Singh to bail out the low-cost carrier. The airline may boost the total number of planes bought if final talks yield bigger discounts and favorable maintenance contracts, one source said.

Boeing would gain a stronger toehold in India, where Airbus dominates narrow-body fleets after a string of order victories. IndiGo, Go Airlines India Pvt and the local unit of AirAsia Bhd all fly variants of the Airbus A320.

"We expect to complete these negotiations and place the order this financial year," the airline said in an emailed statement. A Boeing spokesman declined to comment.

The order would help SpiceJet, India's second-biggest budget carrier, compete with market leader IndiGo, which has ordered hundreds of Airbus jets to tap surging air-travel demand from a fast-growing middle class.

While IndiGo controls about 42 percent of a market that has seen local carriers almost double to 11 in the past four years, SpiceJet has about 13 percent.

SpiceJet shares extended gains for a third day, rising 2.3 percent to 64.60 rupees (95 cents) as of 9:25 am in Mumbai on Friday, the highest intraday level since Nov 30. Boeing shares were little changed at $158.71 in New York on Thursday.

India is crucial for Boeing and Airbus and both offered aggressive discounts to SpiceJet.

Boeing, whose jets dominate the current SpiceJet fleet, has the advantage of close financial ties. As the carrier's financial condition worsened, Boeing provided assistance with payments to help it cope with the situation. That earlier deal, which is still on the manufacturer's books, will now become a part of the new order, the people said. SpiceJet operates a fleet of 32 Boeing 737 jets and 17 Bombardier Q400 turboprops, according to the company.

Bloomberg

Nissan Motor says it sold 1,354,600 units, up 8.4 percent from the previous year. Honda Motor reported more than 1,247,700 vehicles sold, up 24 percent and Toyota Motor 1,214,200 units, up 8.2 percent. Each of the firms topped its sales goal.

China's automobile market grew by double digits thanks to strong demand for sport utility vehicles and government incentives such as tax reductions for smaller models.

But an industry group expects the pace of sales increases will slow this year partly due to the scaling back of tax breaks.

In a December article, Forbes contributor Nishtha Chugh said Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election, as well as multi-billion dollar energy deals with Japan and Qatar, were the “perfect gift” for Moscow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s two-day state visit to Japan could “serve as a primer for anyone looking to do business with Russia in 2017”.

Sixty commercial deals were inked between the two countries during that December meeting. Among those deals energy agreements signed by Russian state-owned oil firm Rosneft and a conglomerate of Japanese companies.

“Potentially billions of dollars will flow between Japan and Russia on joint offshore exploration, the construction of another LNG plant in Sakhalin and a gas pipeline connecting Hokkaido,” Forbes said.

According to the magazine, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s decision to host to the Russian President, even at the risk of violating sanctions against Moscow, showed Tokyo’s “strategic weakness and desperation to improve ties with Russia.”

Trump’s victory had also signaled changes in Russia’s political and economic fortunes, creating strategic uncertainty for Japan, said the article.

Trump’s choice of former Exxon chief Rex Tillerson for his secretary of state was called America’s present to Russia. Tillerson's close ties with Moscow “diminishes Japan’s scope for playing the potential mediator between America and Russia.”

Another important pivot toward Russia came from Qatar, Forbes said, pointing to renewed relations and energy cooperation between the two countries.

In December, the Qatari sovereign wealth fund along with commodities trader Glencore signed a deal to buy a 19.5 percent stake in Russia’s largest oil company Rosneft. The deal worth $11.3 billion has become the biggest privatization deal in Russia, according to Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin.

While some experts saw Qatar’s deal with Russian Rosneft as a reflection of pragmatism in its foreign policy, that pragmatism could play to “Russia’s benefit in global muscle-flexing.”

American companies have actually benefited from the low-cost manufacturing China has provided over the years, said Huawei chief executive for consumer business group Richard Yu. His comments came after his keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Thursday.

The U.S. now generates more "high-end, high-tech" jobs, and bringing low-cost manufacturing back to the U.S. may only lead companies to risk losing money, he said.

"If [companies] move all manufacturing to the U.S., some manufacturing is not good for U.S. companies, because costs will likely increase," Yu said. "If you move all that [low-cost] manufacturing to the U.S., you'll damage the U.S."

Yu's statement came as the world's third-biggest smartphone brand, shipping around 100 million handsets annually, is trying to establish its foothold in the U.S. At the same time, Trump is pushing U.S. companies and even foreign ones selling in the American market to manufacture locally.

Huawei introduced its premium $599.99 M9 handset at the CES. It is the first time that the Chinese smartphone company will make a flagship model generally available in the U.S.

Yu said that while his companies does not have plans to set up manufacturing operations in the U.S., it has already opened several research and development centers there, including offices in San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle.

Rising tensions

Huawei also said that the company procures more than $8 billion worth of components from the U.S. annually.

Huawei relies on key iPhone maker Hon Hai Precision Industry -- known as Foxconn Technology Group -- Singapore-based Flex, and China's own BYD for smartphone assembly.

In an interview with Bloomberg in December, he said falling costs of solar power and battery storage, increasing sales of electric vehicles, increasingly “smart” buildings and cheap hydrogen will all weigh on crude.

“Even if oil demand continues to climb until 2025, its price could drop to $10 if markets anticipate a significant fall in demand,” said Lepercq.

After a decade of acquisitions, the former French gas monopoly Engie has become the world’s largest non-state power producer.

It is now investing in renewables while selling coal-fired plants and exploration assets. By 2018 the company plans to spend $1.57 billion on technologies including grid-scale battery storage, hydrogen output, “mini-grids” that serve small clusters of homes, and smart buildings that link up the heating, lighting and IT systems to save energy and cut costs.

Lepercq said the cost of solar power would probably drop below $10 per megawatt-hour before 2025 in the world’s sunniest places, turning it into the cheapest source of electricity. With the falling costs of battery storage, solar will become even more competitive which means electric vehicles could challenge traditional passenger vehicles.

“As carmakers offer more electrical vehicles with a range exceeding 500 kilometers, charging stations being progressively deployed and more cities banning gasoline and diesel cars, a shift will gradually take place,” said Lepercq.

Data from the International Energy Agency shows the number of battery and plug-in vehicles around the world has surged to one million cars.

According to Lepercq, in less than 10 years hydrogen which can turn solar power into transportable fuel may be as cheap as LNG.

“Solar, battery storage, electrical and hydrogen vehicles, and connected devices are in a ‘J’ curve. Hydrogen is the missing link in a 100 percent renewable-energy system, but technological bricks already exist.”

Engie has recently conducted a “very deep modeling” of the French Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur region. The results showed the region with five million inhabitants could run entirely on renewables by 2030 for as much as 20 percent less cost than the current energy system. Solar, wind, biogas, large-scale battery storage and hydrogen would be essential elements.

“The promise of quasi-infinite and free energy is here,” said Lepercq.

Toyota has traditionally led Honda in China - the world's largest auto market - but last year Honda sped past with a year-on-year sales growth of 24 percent to 1.25 million vehicles, helped by a steady stream of fresh models particularly in the hot sport-utility vehicle segment.

Toyota reported an 8.2 percent rise in 2016 sales. The automaker expects to sell at least 1.2 million vehicles this year, roughly flat with 2016.

Ford reported a growth in China sales of 11.9 percent to 1.24 million vehicles in 2016, not including sales of its premium Lincoln brand, according to a Reuters calculation.

All three companies, however, continued to lag sales by Nissan (7201.T) in China. Nissan's sales grew 8.4 percent to 1.35 million vehicles in the country last year.

Earlier this week, General Motors Co (GM.N) and its joint venture partners reported sales of 3.87 million vehicles in China for 2016, up 7.1 percent, cementing the country's position as the U.S. automaker's top market for a fifth consecutive year.

Demand for cars in the Asian country got a shot in the arm last year from China's move to cut taxes on small-engine cars.

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The tax incentive, which halved the purchase tax on cars with engines of 1.6 liters or smaller to 5 percent, is now being rolled back. The tax will rise to 7.5 percent this year before returning to 10 percent in 2018 - a move analysts say will prevent a steep drop in sales growth.

(Reporting by Jake Spring; Additional reporting by Norihiko Shirouzu and Beijing monitoring team; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

The investment could amount to 2.5 trillion yuan ($360 billion), according to the energy development plan for the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20).

The country has set an annual target of clean and renewable energy consumption that is equivalent of 580 million metric tons of coal, the National Energy Administration said on Thursday.

Renewables investments surge to help clear the air

It will help reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by 1.4 billion tons, sulfur dioxide by 10 million tons, nitric oxide by 4.3 million tons and dust by 5.8 million tons. Coal burning is a main cause of smog in northern regions.

Installed renewable power capacity covering wind, solar, hydro and nuclear power will account for 50 percent of new electricity generation capacity by 2020, the NEA said.

Joseph Jacobelli, a senior analyst with Asia utilities and infrastructure research at Bloomberg Intelligence, said the country's investment in clean energy will help reduce the major pollutants contributing to the smog.

"As the amount of generation from clean energy sources rises, that from coal-fired generation will gradually come down, together with its pollutants," said Jacobelli.

"China's push for clean energy since the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) has indeed worked in reducing emissions from the power sector and the nation has achieved some success as the contribution from clean power sources such as wind and solar has sharply increased."

It will create more than 13 million jobs in the sector, said the administration.

The focus on renewable energy also reflects China's continued focus on curbing the use of fossil fuels, which have driven the country's economic growth over the past 10 years.

"However, replacing traditional sources of energy with renewables takes a long time," said Li Li, energy research director at ICIS China.

China, the world's largest coal consumer and producer, will continuously reduce the share of coal in its overall energy mix.

Coal consumption will be reduced to 58 percent during the 13th Five-Year Plan, and the proportion of non-fossil fuel consumption will exceed 15 percent.

Trump released a message on Twitter on Thursday. It reads "Toyota Motor said will build a new plant in Baja, Mexico, to build Corolla cars for US. NO WAY! Build plant in US or pay big border tax."

Toyota announced in April 2015 that it would build a Corolla plant in Mexico in 2019 as part of its realignment of North American production.

Trump is calling for a review of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he says is for protecting US employment.

He also warns that he will impose 35-percent tariffs on products made overseas by US companies.

Trump has previously criticized General Motors and Ford Motor for their manufacturing plans in Mexico.