petroleum

It's almost automatic: As soon as gas prices go up, the media rushes to offer suggestions for saving money on fuel. But rather than recycling all the old familiar ideas, DailyFinance asked its readers for their best suggestions to reduce pain at the pump, and you gave us some unusual options.

Marathon Oil, the fifth-largest oil refiner in the U.S., is spinning off its refining business into a new company called Marathon Petroleum. Marathon Oil, meanwhile, will reduce its debt as a result of the move and will focus on oil exploration and production.

Oil prices touched a two-year high Monday on tighter inventory and expectations that a U.S. economic growth spurt will boost demand this year. Some analysts predict prices could soon gush to $100 per barrel.

Oil prices reached their highest point in five months due to the combination of a weakening dollar, an interest-rate cut in Japan, a strike by French workers and a barge crash that closed off a Texas shipping route.

BP Plc may sell as much as $3.5 billion in debt as early as today, marking the oil giant's first bond sale since its Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in April.

The price per gallon for gasoline is at the second-lowest level in five years, and some economists predict it could drop much further soon. The reason: More-than-ample inventories of crude oil and refined petroleum products.

The costs associated with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill are rising and CEO Tony Hayward may soon be out of a job, but BP's second-quarter profits will likely be strong, thanks in large part to higher crude prices.

May's unexpected rise in the U.S. trade deficit to $42.3 billion isn't likely to resolve the tug of war between the economic optimists and pessimists. Imports and exports both grew, but imports grew marginally faster.

An out-of-control rig fire off off the coast of Western Australia could prove a clarion call for the hazards of deep-sea drilling. Since Monday, a fire emanating from an oil and gas wellhead in the Montara Field has engulfed a drilling rig called West Atlas being used by Thai company PTTEP...