Paris. Schlumberger and Smith jointly announced that the European Commission has cleared the proposed merger under the EC Merger Regulation without any conditions. The closing of the proposed merger remains subject to clearance by the U.S. Department of Justice, approval by Smith stockholders, and the satisfaction or waiver of other closing conditions contained in the merger agreement between the companies.

London. BP today announced that, by mutual agreement with the BP board, Tony Hayward is to step down as group chief executive with effect from October 1, 2010. He will be succeeded as of that date by fellow executive director Robert Dudley.

Moscow. British oil giant BP may sell some or all of its 50 percent stake in the Russian-British joint venture TNK-BP to raise funds after April's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, The Times said on Monday. Russia's Gazprom or Rosneft are the most likely buyers if the company decides to sell, the paper said.

London. BP PLC said it has entered into several agreements to sell Apache Corp. some of its upstream onshore assets valued at $7 billion. Among the assets are BP's Permian basin assets in Texas and New Mexico; its western Canadian upstream gas assets; and the Western Desert business concessions and East Badr El-din exploration concession in Egypt.