OIL SPILL

Oil giant BP Plc launched a plan to repair its battered image in the United States on Tuesday, ditching its gaffe-prone chief executive and promising to slim down by trebling an asset sale target to $30 billion.

BP on Tuesday confirmed that chief executive Tony Hayward will quit and said it would take a charge as a result of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill amounting to $32.2 billion.

Oil steadied near $79 on Tuesday as forecasts see falling crude inventories and rising refined product stocks in the United States, continuing a trend that has helped keep prices in a $10 range for almost two months.

BP Plc could start the final procedure to kill its ruptured oil well in the Gulf of Mexico late next week despite storm-related delays, the top U.S. oil spill official said on Monday.

The man who acquired a solid gold reputation for fixing sticky situations for the U.S. government is facing one of his toughest challenges yet: running BP Plc's $20 billion compensation fund.

BP Plc is expected to install an American troubleshooter as chief executive in the next 24 hours, replacing Tony Hayward, who has come under fire for his handling of the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

BP Plc is expected to install an American troubleshooter as chief executive in the next 24 hours, replacing Tony Hayward, who has come under fire for his handling of the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

Dividend payments by London-listed companies will fall 6.5 percent this year, mainly because BP suspended payouts after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Capita Registrars Dividend Monitor said.

An e-mail scam featuring someone purporting to be BP Plc's Chief Executive Tony Hayward is targeting victims of the company's massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Florida's attorney general said on Thursday.

China's experiment with oil eating bacteria to help clean oil spill areas in its northeast coast near Dalian city was proved to be a success, said country's Maritime Safety Administration. It's the first time that China is making use of bio-technology and bio-oil-absorbing products to solve an environmental pollution issue.

BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward is to step down within the next 10 weeks, The Times reported on Wednesday.

BP Plc said on Tuesday it reached a deal to sell $7 billion in assets to Apache Corp as the British oil company raises money to cover costs related to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

BP said it is to sell gas fields and an associated pipeline and terminal in Vietnam, worth an estimated $1 billion, as the oil giant builds up a cash pile to pay for its Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Under-fire oil company BP Plc has started canvassing shareholders about a restructuring in the wake of its Gulf of Mexico oil spill which could include a break up of the business, the Sunday Times newspaper reported.

It was a quarter that left investment banking businesses, the once-vaunted profit engines of Wall Street, sputtering.

World stocks eased on Friday on a worsening outlook for the U.S. economy that also pushed the dollar to 7-month low against the yen and near a 2-month trough versus the euro.

Stocks ended little changed on Thursday, recouping losses late in the day, led by a sudden turnaround in Goldman Sachs and BP.

Investor worries that the year-old economic recovery is getting shaky have driven down U.S. manufacturer shares over the past two months.

Shares in oil major BP rose 2.7 percent on Tuesday, taking their bounce this month to 28 percent, on signs the Gulf of Mexico oil spill could be contained and on hopes of asset disposals.

Banks in Florida are requesting that U.S. federal regulators exempt them from mandatory higher capital requirements because they are struggling to cope with the BP oil spill, the Wall Street Journal said.

The Obama administration issued a new moratorium on deepwater oil drilling on Monday, a move the industry said was unnecessary and would place tens of thousands of jobs at risk.