The global law firm of Thompson & Knight has assisted Sonangol, the state-owned oil company of Angola, in a transaction for one of the world’s largest integrated natural gas projects. Under terms of the deal, Sonangol’s Sonagas unit and Chevron Corp., together with their European partners Total SA, BP PLC, and Eni SpA, have agreed [...]

Major oil companies have maintained their stronghold as the world’s most financially effective energy businesses, according to the 2008 Platts Top 250 Global Energy Company rankings announced here Monday evening. But the rankings also point to a performance resurgence by non-oil firms, such as electric utilities, and to the rising importance and influence of Asia-Pacific [...]

Several major oil companies agreed to a multimillion dollar deal to settle lawsuits surrounding their use of the gasoline additive MTBE, a potential carcinogen that has been found in drinking water.
Companies including BP PLC’s BP America Inc., Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips, Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s Shell Oil Co., Marathon Oil Corp. and Valero Energy Corp. agreed [...]

French oil company Total SA, the world’s fourth-largest oil and gas company, said its first-quarter profit rose 18 percent thanks to higher commodity prices.
Excluding an after-tax inventory effect, adjusted net income increased 9 percent to 3.25 billion euros ($4.87 billion). The company’s exploration and production business accounted for 85 percent of overall operating profit.
The results [...]

Chevron Corp. reported the most profitable first quarter in its history, earning $5.17 billion, or $2.48 per share, in the first three months of the year, up 10 percent from $4.72 billion, or $2.18 per share, a year earlier.
The performance beat the average earnings estimate of $2.41 per share among analysts polled by Thomson Financial.
But [...]

The anti-corruption group Transparency International rated more than 40 energy companies on how much they disclose about where they get their revenue, how much they pay host governments and how they operate.
The survey gave low grades to Exxon Mobil but praised Shell and Petrobras.
Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Brazil’s Petrobras, Norway’s StatoilHydro ASA and Petro-Canada are [...]

Venezuela began taking a bigger cut of foreign oil companies’ windfall profits, as a higher tax on those earnings went into effect.
Under a law approved Tuesday by the National Assembly, President Hugo Chavez’s government is charging a 50 percent tax on additional earnings when crude prices pass $70 per-barrel and 60 percent on additional earnings [...]

Oil giants Chevron Corp. and Total have confirmed that they are in discussions with the Iraqi Oil Ministry to increase production in an important oil field in southern Iraq.
The discussions are aimed at finalizing a two-year deal, or technical support agreement, to boost production at the West Qurna Stage 1 oil field near Iraq’s second-largest [...]

Oil giants ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil Corp. are set to withdraw from their joint venture projects in Venezuela’s Orinoco basin.
The two companies refused to sign deals Tuesday that would see the Venezuelan government taking majority stakes in their Orinoco projects.
Four other oil majors, U.S.-based Chevron Corp.; Britain’s BP Plc; France’s Total SA; and Norway’s Statoil [...]

Venezuela, which this week announced plans to nationalize 18 oil rigs operated by international companies, wants to establish a Latin American oil and gas drilling corporation.
Such a company would give Petroleos de Venezuela and other Central and South American oil companies an alternative to North American rig operators, seismic providers and service firms, Bernardo [...]