LONDON (Reuters) – BP’s (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) chief executive gave a cool assessment of the company’s chances of reviving a $16 billion share swap and Arctic exploration deal with Russia’s Rosneft (ROSN.MM: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), saying talks on the tie-up had faded.

“Whether that project goes forward or not, it’s very quiet. This is part of a big portfolio of exploration pursuit. Sometimes it’s successful, sometimes it’s not,” Bob Dudley said on Wednesday, speaking at the launch of the company’s annual statistical review of world energy markets in London.

LONDON/MOSCOW, June 7 (Reuters) – BP Plc (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said it had
no plans to sell down its half-share in Russia’s third-largest
oil producer TNK-BP (TNBP.MM: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and that its focus in Russia
remained on developing TNK-BP.

Sources close to AAR, BP’s co-owners in TNK-BP, said BP
executives had indicated on Monday that the company was ready to
sell down its stake.

LONDON (Reuters) – Safety experts Friday launched an investigation into an explosion that killed four people and seriously injured a fifth worker at a Chevron Corp oil refinery in southwest Wales.

Britain’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said it was launching a joint probe with police while Chevron started an investigation whose results it said were unlikely to be made public.

LONDON, June 3 (Reuters) – Four people were killed and one
was seriously injured in an explosion at an oil refinery in
southwest Wales, the plant’s owner Chevron Corp (CVX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on
Friday.

The blast occurred at the 220,000 barrel per day Pembroke
refinery on Thursday. Chevron did not provide any details on the
operational status of the refinery.

LONDON, June 2 (Reuters) – UK-based Cairn Energy (CNE.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)
has filed a legal action in the Netherlands, seeking fines of
up to 2 million euros a day ($2.9 million) if Greenpeace
protesters again disrupt the explorer’s drilling plans offshore
Greenland.

A Cairn spokesman said on Thursday the action was intended
as a deterrent after Greenpeace ended a four-day protest which
involved protesters hanging suspended from a drilling rig in a
plastic pod.

LONDON (Reuters) – Top Libyan oil official Shokri Ghanem has not defected, contrary to widespread reports, and is secretly working for Muammar Gaddafi to maintain ties with big oil companies, sources at western firms said.

A Libyan opposition source and a source at a major international oil company said Ghanem, one of the most senior figures in Gaddafi’s government, had invited representatives of oil companies to meet him last week in Tunisia, to discuss oil contracts.

LONDON (Reuters) – Top Libyan oil official Shokri Ghanem has not defected, contrary to widespread reports, and is secretly working for Muammar Gaddafi to maintain ties with big oil companies, sources at western firms said.

A Libyan opposition source and a source at a major international oil company said Ghanem, one of the most senior figures in Gaddafi’s government, had invited representatives of oil companies to meet him last week in Tunisia, to discuss oil contracts.

LONDON (Reuters) – Top Libyan oil official Shokri Ghanem has not defected, contrary to widespread reports, and is secretly working for Muammar Gaddafi to maintain ties with big oil companies, sources at western firms said.

A Libyan opposition source and a source at a major international oil company said Ghanem, one of the most senior figures in Gaddafi’s government, had invited representatives of oil companies to meet him last week in Tunisia, to discuss oil contracts.

LONDON (Reuters) – BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research) struck a key victory in its battle to share the cost of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill when partner Mitsui & Co agreed on Friday to pay $1.1 billion toward the clean-up bill and possibly billions more in fines.

Japanese trading house Mitsui’s (8031.T: Quote, Profile, Research) exploration unit MOEX owned 10 percent of the Macondo well but had sought to avoid paying its share of the costs, claiming BP’s negligence exempted it from this obligation.

LONDON (Reuters) – MOEX, a unit of Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co, and partner in BP Plc’s doomed Macondo well has agreed to pay the UK oil major $1.1 billion (678 million pounds) towards the cost of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

MOEX had a 10 percent stake in the well and was liable for a commensurate portion of the costs, which BP estimated at $41 billion, including fines.