BP PLC

Better management of oil industry-related companies BP, Halliburton and Transocean could have almost certainly prevented an underwater oil rig blowout last year that led to the largest ever U.S. oil spill, a presidential panel concluded in its final report.

Shares of Halliburton Co. (HAL) and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) are dropping this morning after a report by a presidential commission into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill from last year spread the blame to various parties, not only BP plc (NYSE: BP).

Former Shell Oil CEO John Hofmeister's prediction a fortnight ago that retail gasoline prices would hit $5 per gallon by 2015 has gone viral since then, drawing attention largely on the U.S. drilling policies but also spooking consumers and polarizing analysts in the process.

Shares of BP plc (NYSE: BP) have leapt today partially on a report in the UK newspaper Daily Mail that Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A) may be interested in merging the two global oil giants.

Top energy research and analysis firm Platts has said the U.S. regulatory framework overseeing energy sector investments could undergo fast-paced changes in 2011.

A sum up of top events that shaped US in past decade (2000-2010). Part 3 covers 2009 & 2010 on Michael Jackson’s death, US economy and jobs, Obama closing Guantanamo Bay detention, troops in Afghan, Tea Party, Sarah Palin and Nobel Peace Prize.

Baldwin sues Costner for misleading in a business deal based on oil-spill cleaning technology

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a civil lawsuit against energy giant BP Exploration and Production Inc. and eight other companies, accusing them of violating the Clean Water Act and has asked the court to hold them liable without limitation under the Oil Pollution Act for all removal costs and damages caused by the oil spill, including damages to natural resources.

The explosion on BP's Deepwater Horizon drilling platform in Macondo early this year was no less than a cut on the oil industry's artery, out of which gushed millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico - a tragedy that devastated the Gulf Coast ecosystem, paralyzed an oil behemoth and thwarted the Big Oil's prospects by attracting a moratorium on deepwater drilling and a crippling regulatory environment.

The U.S. sued BP and eight other defendants on Wednesday over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mex ico, seeking civil penalties under the Clean Water Act.

The India-U.S. solar collaboration has hit some snags as the U.S. is trying to push India to remove regulations related to imports of solar technology, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Britain's parliament on December 9 approved plans to triple tuition fees paid by university students.

Visits to the state of Florida rose in the third quarter of 2010 despite the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The lowest dissolved oxygen measured in the Gulf of Mexico areas was 3.5 parts per million, which is above hypoxic levels, the report said.