Carl Mortished

Saudi Arabia is struggling to sell its crude oil despite record fuel prices and calls on the Kingdom to bring further supplies to the market.

EXXONMOBIL has seized the mantle of the world’s largest public company, in terms of stock market value, from General Electric.

Under the stricter SEC rules, BP replaced only 89 per cent of the barrels it produced. Excluding joint ventures, notably its Russian acquisition TNK-BP, BP’s replacement ratio falls to 78 per cent.

BP OPENED its coffers to investors yesterday, promising a step change in the level of the dividend payout. But even as it revealed record profits of $16.2 billion (£8.7 billion), the oil company admitted that it had failed to replace fully the four million barrels of oil and gas that it pumped out of the ground each day last year.

INVESTMENTS by leading British energy companies in Bolivia’s huge gas reserves are under threat from a popular movement clamouring for nationalisation of the country’s hydrocarbon resources.

SAUDI ARABIA’s oil minister said his country was ready to pump more oil but it could not find buyers as the Kingdom’s high-sulphur crude was being rejected by Western refineries.