The company will have access to the credit facility for four years.

Exxon earlier took a 50 percent interest in a contract held by Malaysian exploration firm Mitra Energy Ltd to search for oil and gas in the deepwater portion of the Sandakan basin.

An official at the energy department, who declined to be named because he was not authorised to speak, confirmed on Tuesday that Exxon is planning to invest up to $100 million on a its drilling programme, adding the agency was waiting for company to provide details of its spending plans.

Interest in oil and gas in the Southeast Asian nation has increased following the discovery of Galoc oilfield, the country’s first major oil find since the 1990s, in the southwestern Philippines.

Galoc, operated by European trader Vitol and Australian oil firm Otto Energy (OEL.AX), has been producing an average 15,000 barrels per day since it came onstream Oct. 9. Reserves at the oilfield are estimated at 10 million barrels.

–Reuters

The incoming head of BP’s U.S. operations said Tuesday that he’s committed to developing ongoing projects on the continent but was mum about possible future oil and gas acquisitions in a volatile economy.

The company said Tuesday that Lamar McKay will succeed Robert Malone, who announced his retirement effective Feb. 1 as chairman and president of BP America, the Houston-based U.S. arm of the British oil giant.

Malone, 56, led the division through the cleanup of a string of serious blunders that savaged the company’s reputation.

He took the helm of BP America in June 2006, when the company was grappling with operational troubles that had sapped BP’s competitive edge as well as public and investor confidence in the London-based company.

Those included the March 2005 explosion at BP’s Texas City refinery that killed 15 people, two leaks from a critical Alaskan oil pipeline system, a propane trading scandal and design flaws that delayed the startup of its Thunder Horse oil and gas platform.

In October 2007, BP struck plea deals to resolve its criminal liability in cases involving the Texas City blast, trading and the pipeline leaks.

The trading and pipeline issues were resolved quickly, but a Houston federal judge has yet to accept or reject the deal stemming from the refinery explosion after victims challenged it. Thunder Horse, the biggest oil and gas platform in the Gulf of Mexico, started pumping in 2008, three years after its initial startup date.

“BP has put the focus on safety and operational integrity, and that has been a big shift,” Malone said in an interview Tuesday afternoon, adding that clear accountability within management has been established for every project and every facility.

Fatalities and phone calls to victims’ families were among his darkest moments at BP, Malone said.

McKay, 50, a petroleum engineer, said he’s committed to making sure changes to BP’s corporate culture stick.

He started working in oil fields as a roustabout when he was 18, then moved through executive ranks to chief operating officer for BP America. Seven month ago, he was called upon to craft a new governance model for BP’s Russian venture, TNK-BP.

“It’s never done, but I’m proud of how far we’ve come,” McKay said of the company, which has 38,000 employees in the U.S., including about 7,000 in the Houston area.

Less than two months after Malone took over at BP America, he acknowledged to a congressional committee that the refinery blast and other problems had generated accusations that the company profited at the expense of employee safety.

He insisted he was committed to restoring confidence and operational integrity and that he had been “given the authority, the resources and the people” to make it happen.

However, tangible results weren’t immediately forthcoming.

Three more deaths occurred at the Texas City plant while it was undergoing a $1 billion overhaul one each year since the 2005 blast.

The announcement of Malone’s retirement comes just days after the Texas City plant regained full operational capacity of 475,000 barrels a day.

BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward said in a prepared statement that Malone has “made an extraordinary difference during his tenure at BP America” and praised his “unflagging commitment to safe operations.”

Looking ahead, McKay declined to discuss the prospects for acquiring more oil and natural gas reserves this year, but said he is committed to deep-water projects, onshore gas plays and overhauling BP’s Midwest refineries to process more kinds of crude.

Franklin’s oil and gas projects in Argentina remain under negotiation pending approval by government agencies. A recommendation of approval for a final report on the economic development of a designated natural gas allocation will be presented to Franklin’s Board this week by Fernando Infante, Franklin Mining Executive Vice-President and Howard Dunn, President of Franklin’s Oil & Gas Division. With Board approval, an international business consulting and accounting firm will prepare their review and assessment of planned gas-to-liquid processing plants.

Paul Baker, International Mining Consultant, La Paz, Bolivia, will meet with the Franklin Board for a discussion and review of his December 2008 Summary Evaluation of the Escala Mine joint-venture. As previously announced, Mr. Baker’s assessment is that the Escala’s 2008 pre-production development has resulted in three excellent cross cut haulage tunnels having been driven to intersect east/west vein structures.

Extensions of all three tunnels (Anita, Erika and Patty) will resume this week with a major focus on the Anita as this tunnel will intersect the prolific Aguilar vein. The Aguilar vein has been worked extensively in the past; a 30-meter deep extraction shaft directly down the vein allowed a large tonnage of ore to be mined, removed and processed. When the Anita extension is complete in late-January, the existing shaft will serve to provide ventilation.

An estimated 1,000 tons of ore has been mined and removed during the current tunnel extension operations and is available to be processed. Previous sampling has shown 3.0% Zinc, 2.5% Lead and 300 grams Silver.

About Franklin Mining, Inc: Franklin Mining, Inc. has mining and energy interests in the United States and Bolivia as well as energy interests in Argentina. Franklin Mining, Bolivia is a wholly owned subsidiary. Franklin Mining, Inc. holds 51% ownership in both Franklin Oil & Gas, Bolivia S.A. and Franklin Oil & Gas International S.A. Additional information is available at www.FranklinMining.com.

–CNN

“Regions have been ordered … to take necessary measures to prepare and move all heat generation companies to work on reserve fuel — fuel oil,” the government said in a statement.

“A government decision is being prepared which will cover the purchase of necessary fuel oil volumes abroad,” it said.

–Reuters

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DCP Midstream Partners, LP is a midstream master limited partnership that gathers, processes, transports and markets natural gas and natural gas liquids and is a leading wholesale distributor of propane. DCP Midstream Partners, LP is managed by its general partner, DCP Midstream GP, LLC, which is wholly owned by DCP Midstream, LLC, a joint venture between Spectra Energy and ConocoPhillips. For more information, visit the DCP Midstream Partners, LP web site at http://www.dcppartners.com
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Source: DCP Midstream Partners, LP

Shares of some top oil companies were mixed at the close of trading:
Chevron rose $.69 or .9 percent, to $77.35.
ConocoPhillips rose $.21 or .4 percent, to $55.68.
Exxon Mobil fell $1.33 or 1.6 percent, to $80.30.
Marathon Oil rose $.53 or 1.8 percent, to $29.87.