BP Continues Investigation of Damage to U.K.'s CATS Natural-Gas Pipeline

(Bloomberg) -- BP Plc, Europe's second-largest oil
and natural-gas company, continues to look for potential faults
on the CATS gas pipeline to the U.K. after it was shut July 1.

The company is ``still investigating the pipe itself,''
spokesman Graham MacEwan said today in a telephone interview from
Aberdeen, Scotland. He couldn't say when flows would resume.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

BP to Ship First Crude-Oil Cargo From Angola's Plutonio Field in September

(Bloomberg) -- BP Plc, Europe's second-largest oil
company, will ship the first crude cargo from Angola's Plutonio
offshore oilfield in September, said two traders with knowledge
of the project.

The first cargo will be kept by field operator BP, said the
traders who asked not to be identified because of company
policy. Plutonio will start production in the second half of
this year, said BP spokesman Toby Odone, declining to give
further details.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Oil Rises to 11-Month High as North Sea Output Declines on Closed Pipeline

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose to an 11-month high
in New York and London after a pipeline shutdown and maintenance
work reduced North Sea Brent oil production.

Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips said they lost output from
North Sea fields that produce oil and gas after BP Plc closed
the pipeline. BG Group Plc said its Armada oil field in the
North Sea has been shut for maintenance since June. The
International Energy Agency said in a report today that global
oil demand will rise 2.5 percent next year.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

Oil Is Little Changed After Report BP Is Starting Unit at Indiana Refinery

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil was little changed in New
York after a report that BP Plc will begin startup today of a
unit at its Whiting, Indiana, refinery, the biggest in the
Midwest.

The 235,000 barrel-a-day crude unit, which was shut July 9
for unplanned maintenance, is expected to be at full rates by
next week, a person familiar with the plant's status said. The
refinery can normally process more than 400,000 barrels of oil a
day. The unit had been expected to start up this weekend.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Crude Oil Climbs on Signs Gasoline Output to Drop Amid Refinery Mishaps

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose, pulled higher by
gasoline on speculation that U.S. output of the fuel 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

UPDATE 1-Valero Texas City refinery shut on power snag

(Reuters) - "We are still assessing the situation at the plant," Valero
spokesman Bill Day said, adding that the power failure was
weather-related.




Oil products traders in the U.S. Gulf Coast said they have
not heard of any similar outages at other area refineries such
as the giant 460,000-bpd BP Pls plant or the 72,000-bpd
Marathon Oil refinery.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

U.S. Refiners Increase Output of Gasoline, Work Around Equipment Failures

(Bloomberg) -- Refineries are working around plant
bottlenecks to boost gasoline output as government statistics
show they are running at their lowest rate in 19 years.

They are making more gasoline away from the crude processing
units that usually are key to their production, blending in
ethanol and processing cheaper refined products such as vacuum
gasoil. Crude units at plants including BP Plc's Whiting,
Indiana, facility have been down for months for repair.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

BP's Russia unit surrenders gas field to Gazprom

(Reuters) - The sale is the culmination of years of pressure on BP's
Russian joint venture TNK-BP, which wanted to develop the huge
field to supply lucrative export markets in Asia.




Gas export monopoly Gazprom has consistently blocked these
plans, while regulators accused the Kovykta operating company,
Rusia Petroleum, of breaching its license terms.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Gazprom Gains BP Siberian Gas Field as Putin Ends Foreign Energy Control

(Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom took control of BP Plc's
stake in a Siberian deposit with enough natural gas to supply
Asia for five years, as President Vladimir Putin ends foreign
ownership of Russia's biggest energy assets.

Gazprom will buy the 63 percent stake in the Kovykta field
held by BP's Russian unit TNK-BP and half of the East Siberian
Gas Co. for between $700 million and $900 million, BP said in a
statement distributed via the Regulatory News Service today.
TNK-BP has the right to buy 25 percent of Kovykta later.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

BP May Agree to Sell Kovykta Field Stake to Gazprom, Russian Ministry Says

(Bloomberg) -- BP Plc may lose control of a
Siberian gas field big enough to supply Asia for five years, a
government official said, as Russian President Vladimir Putin
ends foreign ownership of the nation's biggest energy assets.

Dmitry Medvedev, chairman of OAO Gazprom and a first deputy
prime minister, will chair a meeting in the Kremlin later today
between the Russian gas-export monopoly and BP, a Kremlin
spokeswoman said by phone, declining to be identified. Both
companies declined to comment.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Gazprom Chairman Calls BP Meeting in Kremlin to Discuss Kovykta Gas Field

(Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom Chairman Dmitry Medvedev
will hold a meeting in the Kremlin today with executives from BP
Plc, whose license to a Siberian field with more natural gas
than Canada is being threatened by the government.

Medvedev, who is also a first deputy prime minister, will
chair a meeting regarding BP, a Kremlin spokeswoman said by
phone, declining to elaborate.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News