CONOCOPHILLIPS

China's buying of West African crude oil is set to rise about 15 percent in September from August, trade sources said on Friday, but overall Asian imports from West Africa will fall due to slower Indian demand.

Oil and natural gas companies, whether integrated or independent, whether upstream or downstream, posted gains as investors picked up heavily discounted stocks.

Exxon Mobil Corp, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, reported a higher quarterly profit that missed Wall Street estimates as its international refining business and output fell short.

Exxon reported second-quarter earnings before the market open Thursday and the company showed an increase due to higher oil prices but the number was below Wall Street's expectations.

Stocks were slightly lower on Wednesday as concerns over a possible debt default by the United States continued to weigh on investor sentiment.

BP announced second quarter earnings of 5.3 billion on Tuesday, a stark contrast from last year's second quarter loss of $17.15 billion, behind profits from skyrocketing oil prices.

BP would be wise to consider splitting its operations, as ConcoPhillips and Marathon Oil recently have, to possibly gain back up to 100 billion in value, according to an analyst.

ConocoPhillips will spin off its refining arm in a bid to improve investment returns for shareholders, abandoning the bigger-is-better strategy that drove oil giants into mergers.

ConocoPhillips will spin off its refining arm in a bet that each operation will be worth more as separate companies, abandoning the bigger-is-better strategy that had driven oil giants into mergers over the past 15 years.

ConocoPhillips said on Thursday it would spin off its refining and marketing operation, in hopes each arm would be worth more as a separate company.

Time Inc.'s Fortune magazine released its annual Fortune Global 500 list, which is a ranking of the top 500 corporations worldwide as measured by revenue. Start slideshow to view a gallery of the top 10 biggest companies in the US.

While natural gas companies like ConocoPhillips and Chesapeake Energy Corporation are making big bets on wells that are supposed to extract energy from shale formations, the New York Times reported that an investigation of e-mails and documents shows industry insiders have doubts as to whether the companies will be able to deliver on their promises to investors.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade on Thursday are: Polypore International, Whole Foods Market, Macy's, Aeropostale, Windstream, Bristol Myers Squibb, Ion Geophysical, Marathon Oil, ConocoPhillips, Gap and Allergan.

Futures on major U.S. stock indices point to a higher opening on Wednesday ahead of US Federal Reserve’s meeting and Census Bureau's durable goods orders report.

China's Sinopec clinched the second-largest single Chinese liquefied natural gas deal, and ventured for the first time into a foreign unconventional gas asset to feed a domestic boom for the clean fuel.