Venezuela Led 9 Billion-Barrel Gain in OPEC Proven Oil Reserves Last Year

(Bloomberg) -- OPEC's proven crude oil reserves
rose 1 percent last year, led by increases in Venezuela and
Iran, at a time when European and U.S. oil companies such as BP
Plc and Repsol YPF SA struggled to find new deposits.

The tally for the 12-nation producer group rose by 9.2
billion barrels to 922.48 billion barrels at the end of 2006,
OPEC said today in its Annual Statistical Bulletin. The increase
was the biggest in four years and equivalent to all of the
proven reserves of Norway, Europe's biggest oil supplier.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Indonesia's July Crude Oil Production Falls 0.4 Percent From Month Earlier

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil output in Indonesia,
Southeast Asia's biggest oil producer, fell 0.4 percent in July
from June, regulator BPMigas said.

Crude production declined to an average of 825,614 barrels a
day from 828,941 barrels a day a month earlier, BPMigas said
today. Output of condensate, a type of light oil produced in
association with natural gas, climbed 2.3 percent to 118,072
barrels a day in July.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

BP Expects Its Whiting Oil Refinery to Return to Full Production Next Year

(Bloomberg) -- BP Plc, Europe's second-largest oil
company, expects its 405,000 barrel-a-day refinery in Whiting,
Indiana, to resume full production in the first half of 2008.

``Repairs are ongoing and we expect to resume sour crude
processing in the fourth quarter of 2007 and to restore the
refinery to its full flexibility and crude capacity in the first
half of 2008,'' BP said today in a statement distributed by the
Regulatory News Service.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Crude Oil Falls From 11-Month High as Refiners Open Plants, Boost Output

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell from an 11-month high
in New York on speculation that U.S. fuel stockpiles will
increase because refineries are opening units.

Exxon Mobil Corp., BP Plc and Valero Energy Corp. started
units at refineries in Texas over the past week. Prices rose 2.2
percent this week after the Energy Department reported that U.S.
fuel stockpiles declined last week as gasoline demand increased.
Total SA said it restored normal output from an oil field in
Angola after cutting production to make repairs.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

Crude Oil Trades Near an 11-Month High After North Sea Production Declines

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil traded near an 11-month
high in New York after rising last week as a pipeline shutdown in
the North Sea cut oil output and pushed Brent futures higher.

New York futures jumped 2 percent on July 13, their first
gain in three days, after Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips said
the closure of a BP Plc gas pipeline in the North Sea will limit
their oil output. World oil demand will rise 2.5 percent next
year to average 88.2 million barrels a day, the International
Energy Agency said in a report the same day.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Crude Oil Climbs Above $73 on Speculation U.S. Gasoline Output to Decline

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose above $73 a barrel in
New York for the first time since August on speculation that
U.S. output of gasoline will slow because of unexpected refinery
shutdowns.

BP Plc closed the largest of three crude units at its
refinery in Whiting, Indiana, a person familiar with the plant
said yesterday. The refinery, the biggest in the Midwest,
supplies consumers in the Chicago area. Refineries in Texas and
Kansas shut units last week. The crude-oil market often follows
gasoline during the summer months, when motor-fuel demand peaks.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

Oil Falls From 10-Month High as U.S. Refineries Increase Gasoline Outputt

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell from a 10-month high
on expectations that demand will decline because of the
unexpected shutdown of units at U.S. refineries.

BP Plc is shutting the largest of three crude units at its
Whiting, Indiana, refinery, a person familiar with the plant
said. Units were shut at refineries in Texas and Kansas last
week. Oil rose last week on unrest in Nigeria, Africa's biggest
producer. U.K. authorities said a three-year-old British girl
abducted July 5 in Nigeria was freed yesterday.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

U.K. FTSE 100 Index Advances, Paced by BP, Shell; BHP Billiton Shares Gain

(Bloomberg) -- U.K. stocks climbed. BP Plc and Royal
Dutch Shell Plc rose on a positive research note from Deutsche
Bank AG. Shares of BHP Billiton also gained.

The benchmark FTSE 100 Index climbed 31.10, or 0.5 percent,
to 6666.30 at 12:07 p.m. in London. The FTSE All-Share Index rose
0.4 percent to 3443.06. Ireland's ISEQ Index jumped 0.7 percent
to 9419.92.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

European Stocks Rise, Led by Energy, Mining Shares; BP, BHP, Nestle Gain

(Bloomberg) -- European stocks rose for the first time
in six days as higher commodity prices lifted energy and mining
companies and Citigroup Inc. said shares in the region are cheap.

BP Plc, Europe's second-biggest oil producer, and BHP
Billiton Ltd., the world's largest mining company, advanced.
Nestle SA increased after Deutsche Bank AG recommended buying
stock in the food company. Groupe Danone rose on a report the
yogurt maker will likely sell its LU cookies division.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

BP Agrees to Venezuelan Terms to Maintain Stake in Cerro Negro Oil Project

(Bloomberg) -- BP Plc, Europe's second-largest oil
company, signed a memorandum of understanding with Venezuela
yesterday to keep its minority stake in a heavy-oil project as
the government consolidates its control of energy assets.

BP, based in London, will retain its 16.67 percent stake in
the Cerro Negro project, which will be majority owned and
operated by state-run Petroleos de Venezuela SA, BP spokesman
David Nicholas said today. The agreement was signed yesterday.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

WRAPUP 1-Chavez drives Exxon, ConocoPhillips from Venezuela

(Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp. and ConocoPhillips decided
to quit their oil operations in the OPEC nation after they
failed to strike a deal with the government to stay in
multibillion-dollar projects that the anti-U.S. leader decreed
should be taken over.




Four other oil majors -- Chevron Corp. , Norway's
Statoil , Britain's BP Plc and France's Total
-- signed pacts that allow Venezuela to increase its
stake to at least 60 percent in projects worth $30 billion.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

UPDATE 1-Russia to rule on Kovykta this week- Trutnev

(Reuters) - "In any case I do not think this issue will drag on for
long. I think it will be over during this week. It is a
technical question. All the work has been done," Trutnev was
quoted as telling reporters.




Russia's licensing agency, Rosnedra, which has repeatedly
delayed a decision on whether to strip TNK-BP's Kovykta licence,
said on Monday it would review the early withdrawal of the
licence on June 22.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Canada's Talisman Sues China's Cnooc for Stake in Indonesian Gas Venture

(Bloomberg) -- Talisman Energy Inc., the Canadian
oil company spun off from BP Plc, is suing China's Cnooc Ltd.
over a stake in a $5 billion liquefied natural gas venture in
Indonesia, U.S. court papers show.

Talisman's Fortuna Resources (Sunda) Ltd. unit is claiming
the right to 44 percent of Cnooc's 17 percent interest in the
Tangguh development, according to filings in the District Court,
Dallas County, Texas. Fortuna doesn't have the right to share in
the project, and if the court disagrees, Fortuna's interest
would be no more than 5.4 percent, Cnooc claims in its filings.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Crude Oil Falls After Report Showing Increase in U.S. Inventories of Fuels

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose on reports that
thousands of Turkish troops moved into northern Iraq to chase
Kurdish guerillas.

Turkish troops crossed into Iraq in pursuit of members of
the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, the Associated Press
reported citing unidentified security officials. Iraq has the
world's third-biggest proved oil reserves, according to BP Plc.
Oil fell earlier on a U.S. report showing that gasoline supplies
surged last week as refiners cut operating rates.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

BP Toledo Refinery Cat Cracker Returns to Service, Person Familiar Says

(Bloomberg) -- The fluid catalytic cracker at BP
Plc's refinery in Toledo, Ohio, returned to service June 1 after
being shut more than a month ago, said a person familiar with
the refinery's status who asked not to be named.

BP shut the unit, which is involved in gasoline production,
on April 21 after a loss of steam. The unit can process 60,000
barrels a day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Russia Postpones Decision on BP License for $18 Billion Siberian Gas Field

(Bloomberg) -- Russia delayed a decision on revoking
a license held by BP Plc's Russian unit to develop an
$18 billion Siberian gas field, indicating that negotiations may
be continuing with the Kremlin.

A Natural Resources Ministry commission postponed the
decision for two weeks because of the ``complexity of the
issue,'' Vladimir Bobylev, a spokesman for BP's venture, TNK-BP,
said by telephone from Moscow, where company officials attended
the commission's meeting today.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

Russia Postpones Decision on BP Siberian Gas Unit's License, Interfax Says

(Bloomberg) -- Russian officials postponed a
decision on whether to revoke the license held by BP Plc's
Russian venture to a Siberian field with enough natural gas to
supply Asia for five years, Interfax said.

A Natural Resources Ministry commission delayed making a
decision on the license for the Kovykta field in Siberia for two
weeks because of the ``complexity of the issue,'' Interfax cited
an unidentified person with knowledge of the decision as saying
in Moscow today.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

BP's John Manzoni, Head of Refining, to Become Chief of Talisman Energy

(Bloomberg) -- BP Plc's John Manzoni is stepping down
as head of refining and will become president and chief executive
officer of Canada's Talisman Energy Inc., the companies said.

Iain Conn, 44, will take over as head of BP's refining and
marketing division in two days. Manzoni will step down as group
managing director and leave BP on Aug. 31, Europe's second-largest
oil company said today in a statement.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

BP's Russia Unit Faces Loss of Kovykta Field After Siberian Court Ruling

(Bloomberg) -- BP Plc's Russian venture lost a court
case over its license to the giant Kovykta gas deposit, allowing
the government as early as this week to regain control of a
field with enough fuel to supply Asia for five years.

A court in Irkutsk, Siberia lifted an order forbidding the
federal government from revoking the license held by TNK-BP's
OAO Rusia Petroleum unit, after dismissing the unit's demands to
clarify how much gas it had to provide to the region.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

European Stocks May Drop on China Concern; Lafarge, BP Shares Might Fall

(Bloomberg) -- European stocks may decline after
former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said shares in
China, the world's fastest growing major economy, could face a
``dramatic contraction.''

U.S.-traded securities of Lafarge SA, the world's biggest
cement manufacturer, and BP Plc, Europe's second-largest oil
company, dropped.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News