NEW YORK (July 30, 2010): Oil prices rose on Thursday as the dollar weakened to a 12-week low against the euro, boosting demand for oil priced in dollars, and after European data showed eurozone economic sentiment has improved. Oil prices rose in spite of a volatile day in US stock markets, in which equities gained early, then dipped in afternoon trade before closing slightly higher.

LONDON (July 30, 2010): Opec is meeting only half its promised cuts in oil supply this month thanks to a big jump in exports from Nigeria and despite a smaller decline in production in Angola, a Reuters survey showed on Thursday. Supply from the 11 members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries with output targets.

HOUSTON (July 30, 2010): Exxon Mobil Corp reported a better-than-expected second-quarter profit on Thursday, as oil prices and margins to process crude into fuel rebounded from a year earlier and production rose. Conditions in the refining sector have improved in recent months, with business and consumer demand for diesel and gasoline rebounding.

LONDON (July 30, 2010): Royal Dutch Shell Plc said second-quarter profits doubled thanks to high oil prices and bigger than expected restructuring gains and unveiled a plan to boost asset sales, echoing a plan from rival BP. Both Shell and its bigger US rival Exxon Mobil Corp beat analysts forecasts with their results on Thursday. Click here for a story on Exxon's profits, which rose 85 percent.

NEW YORK (July 29, 2010): Oil prices fell a second straight day on Wednesday on a surprise crude oil inventory build and weak economic data. The US Energy Information Administration inventory report showed crude stocks rose 7.31 million barrels last week as imports jumped. A Reuters analyst survey had forecast crude oil stocks would be down 1.6 million barrels.

LONDON (July 29, 2010): A day after BP said it would sell $30 billion in assets to pay for its Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the focus shifted to what is for sale, while lawyers prepared to tackle a mountain of claims for damages.

CADARACHE (July 29, 2010): The European Union and six states backing a multi-billion-dollar nuclear fusion project said Wednesday they had reached a deal on the financing and timetable for the experimental reactor. An explosion in costs had cast a cloud over the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), which aims to make the nuclear fusion process that fuels the sun a practical energy source on Earth.

NEW YORK (July 28, 2010): Oil prices fell by more than 2 percent on Tuesday, reversing an earlier rally, after data showed US consumer confidence plunged to the lowest level in five months, prompting investors to sell off riskier assets including oil and equities. US consumer confidence fell in July to the lowest level since February on worries about a stagnant job market in the world's top economy.

LONDON (July 28, 2010): Environmental campaigners shut down between 30 and 50 BP petrol stations in London on Tuesday in a protest against deep-sea drilling, as the oil giant appointed a new chief executive, both sides said. The Greenpeace demonstration in central London was timed to coincide with the announcement that Bob Dudley would replace Tony Hayward at the helm of BP, as the group posted record losses caused by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

LONDON (July 28, 2010): BP's chief executive Tony Hayward resigned on Tuesday, claiming to have been "demonised and vilified" over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster that is set to cost the British group 32 billion dollars. Hayward, whose PR gaffes made him a target of US fury, will be succeeded by Bob Dudley, who is in charge of BP's Gulf clean-up operations and who has vowed to "change the culture" of how the company tackles safety issues.