LONDON, Oct 11, 2007 (AFP) - Britain's BP announced Thursday a wide-ranging restructuring to revive the troubled energy giant, which has been tarnished in recent times by fatal safety issues and a major boardroom overhaul.

The group will comprise two divisions -- Exploration and Production, and Refining and Marketing -- compared to three currently, BP said in a statement following a six-month operational review aimed at closing the gap with rivals.

LONDON, Sept 24, 2007 (AFP) - British energy giant BP's third-quarter revenues are set to be 'dreadful,' the company's chief executive Tony Hayward told a meeting of BP employees in Houston, the Financial Times reported in an early edition of its Tuesday paper.

Citing a summary of the 'town hall'-style meeting put together by a BP manager and sent to colleagues that it had obtained, the business daily said that Hayward told BP workers that the company's financial performance was at its worst since 1992-93.

MOSCOW, Sept 19, 2007 (AFP) - British-Russian venture TNK-BP is seeking the Russian state's help to break into the Venezuelan market in what may prove a new trend, the Russian broadsheet Kommersant reported Wednesday.

Kommersant said TNK-BP chief executive German Khan had written to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on August 30 asking for help in Venezuela.

TNK-BP could 'contribute to developing and reinforcing economic cooperation' between Russia and Venezuela by participating in fossil fuel projects in the South American country, Kommersant quoted the letter as saying.

MOSCOW, Aug 26, 2007 (AFP) - A fire broke out at a major oil refinery in western Russia on Sunday and caused 100 tonnes of oil products to leak into the ground, reports said.

'The area of the fire is 200 square metres. There has also been a leak of 100 tonnes of oil products,' a spokesman for Russia's emergency situations ministry was quoted as saying.

Officials were later quoted as saying the fire had been put out.

ASHGABAT, Aug 23, 2007 (AFP) - The head of exploration and production at oil company BP met on Thursday with Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, president of the gas-rich Central Asian state of Turkmenistan, official media here said.

Andy Inglis said after the meeting that BP was ready to establish close commercial links with Turkmenistan, a tightly controlled one-party state criticised over its human rights record.

'Turkmenistan is always ready for cooperation on the basis of the principles of trust and mutual profit,' Berdymukhammedov said.

LONDON, July 24, 2007 (AFP) - British oil giant BP reported a drop in net profit for the three months to June on Tuesday, as energy production dropped for an eighth quarter running despite strong world demand for oil and gas.

Net profit on the basis of replacement costs, which excludes the effect of changes in the value of oil and gas inventories, fell by 0.5 percent to 6.087 billion dollars (4.406 billion euros) during the second quarter, compared with the same period in 2006.

The replacement cost figure is closely watched by the market.

LONDON, July 24, 2007 (AFP) - British oil giant BP announced a fall in net profit in the three months to June following 24 months of continuously falling production despite strong world demand for energy.

Net profit on the basis of replacement costs, which excludes the effect of changes in the value of oil and gas inventories, fell by 0.5 percent to 6.087 billion dollars (4.406 billion euros) during the second quarter, compared with the same period in 2006.

The replacement cost figure is closely watched by the market.

LONDON, July 24, 2007 (AFP) - British oil giant BP said Tuesday that net profit dropped by 6.6 percent to 12.04 billion dollars (8.71 billion euros) in the first half, as output fell further.

BP said in a statement that its oil production decreased by 4.4 percent to 3.857 million barrels per day during the reporting period.