Company: Halliburton Co

NEW YORK (Reuters) - BP Plc <BP.L> appears to be well on its way to concluding an estimated $7.8 billion settlement to resolve most of its civil liability from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. But a potential landmine lurks in the settlement documents: under certain circumstances, the company can invoke a little-noticed provision that allows it to walk away from the deal.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Occidental Petroleum was among the first major U.S. oil drillers to make a big bet on the resurgence of domestic production, spending billions to grab oil patches from Texas to North Dakota.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Occidental Petroleum was among the first major U.S. oil drillers to make a big bet on the resurgence of domestic production, spending billions to grab oil patches from Texas to North Dakota.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Occidental Petroleum was among the first major U.S. oil drillers to make a big bet on the resurgence of domestic production, spending billions to grab oil patches from Texas to North Dakota.

The federal judge who will decide whether to approve a class-action settlement of claims against BP PLC has scheduled a January 2013 trial for other claims spawned by the deadly blowout of the company's deepwater well in the Gulf Mexico.

Halliburton, the world's second-largest oilfield services company, on Wednesday reported higher quarterly profits as North American revenue reached a record high, lifting its shares in premarket trading.

Fracking. Such an odd term. But it's one you need to get familiar with because at the maximum, it's a huge part of the present and future of domestic oil and gas production.

A settlement thatBP is hammering out with victims of the massive Gulf oil spill finally provides a system for monitoring health concerns and compensating people whose illnesses are found to have a link to the disaster.

The trial to decide who should pay for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill has been delayed by a week, to allow BP to try to cut a deal with tens of thousands of businesses and individuals affected by the disaster.

On the cusp of trial over the catastrophic 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, phalanxes of lawyers, executives and public officials have spent the waning days in settlement talks.

Stocks ended in the red Wednesday in thin trading amid ongoing concerns over the euro zone debt crisis and as investors took a breather following the strong run-up that propelled major averages to multi-year highs.

The wealthiest Americans have been in the spotlight over the past several years, for reasons ranging from public outrage over lavish lifestyles during the recession to executive bonuses in the midst of the financial crisis. The Occupy Wall Street movement was perhaps the most visible culmination of these concerns, broadly protesting against the divide between the majority of the U.S. population and the ultra-rich, referred to by the protesters as the “one percent.”

Miner Lonmin, the world's third-largest platinum producer, posted a rise in first quarter output, despite the impact of safety stoppages which it warned could hit both sales and costs if current trends persist.

Stocks eased off their highs in the final minutes of trading, but still finished the first trading day of 2012 with a bang, as Wall Street cheered a handful of better-than-expected economic reports from around the world.

Oil major BP is seeking money from Halliburton, its contractor on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform, for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, according to a court filing seen by CNBC.