51.   Despite high security costs, oil giants such as British Petroleum believe investment in Colombia is worth it.

52.   Despite four years of political unrest and clashes between Algerian security forces and Islamic militants, the British oil giant believes the deal is feasible.

53.   Elf Chairman Philippe Jaffre told senior management Thursday that the French oil giant will fight a takeover bid from TotalFina that the company considers premature and hostile.

54.   Even robust oil giants like Saudi Arabia are feeling the pinch.

55.   Even so, the process was plagued by allegations of corruption and faulty management, and multinational oil giants were passed over for small companies with uncertain financial backing.

56.   It recently began negotiations with oil giants Shell Corp. and Mobile Oil Corp. on possible offshore drilling concessions.

57.   It was the second major deal involving a Canadian oil industry giant in three days.

58.   It was the second oil spill in Singapore in the past month involving the Dutch oil giant.

59.   Meanwhile thousands of oil workers on Monday called off a threatened nationwide strike after accepting the latest wage offer from government-run oil giant, Petrobras.

60.   Meanwhile, oil giants such as Mobil and Exxon have invested hundreds of millions of dollars to extract oil from some of the harshest landscapes in the world.