By Kristen Hays and Matthew Robinson (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil on Sunday continued cleanup of a pipeline spill that spewed thousands of barrels of heavy Canadian crude in Arkansas as opponents of oil sands development latched on to the incident to attack plans to build the Keystone XL line. Exxon spokesman Alan Jeffers said on Sunday that crews had yet to excavate the area around the pipeline breach, a needed step before the company can estimate how long repairs will take and when the line might restart.

By Dmitry Zhdannikov LONDON (Reuters) - BP's oil trading division, the alma mater for a generation of the world's top traders and a former cash-generating machine, is under greater scrutiny after becoming a weak link for the oil major. The company says the unit, which once generated a tenth of profits, was responsible for its failure to fully deliver on a pledge to improve performance at its refining division.

By Melissa Akin MOSCOW, March 4 (Reuters) - BP, which lost its first deal to drill for oil in Russia's Arctic to ExxonMobil, tried to negotiate a new deal with Russian state oil company Rosneft and was again beaten to the punch by its U.S. rival. ExxonMobil won access to the Arctic Laptev Sea fields, where Rosneft's prospective reserves amount to 36 billion barrels of oil equivalent, under a deal last month, but three industry sources said BP had also been in talks with Rosneft to explore several blocks there.

LONDON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - BP said the U.S. Department of Justice has backed its claim that oil it recovered at the 2010 spill site should be excluded from certain penalties it could face, potentially cutting its final fine by as much as $3.5 billion. Just days before its civil trial is due to start on Feb. 25 in New Orleans, the British oil company repeated its assertion that some 810,000 barrels of oil it recovered directly from the leaking Macondo well should not count when it comes to fines that could be levied under the U.S. Clean Water Act.