BP CEO Meg O'Neill on Friday denied that the company had held internal discussions about breaking up the group. Her comments followed a Semafor report citing people close to the board who said some directors supported a split; O'Neill said board strategy discussions reaffirmed the case for keeping BP as an integrated oil and gas company.

The U.S. government said on Thursday oil companies have agreed to borrow about 40 million barrels from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), the final tranche pledged under a global agreement aimed at stabilizing fuel prices after the U.S. and Israel opened hostilities with Iran. The Department of Energy said it awarded contracts on Oct. 28 to borrow roughly 16.8 million barrels to Gunvor, Trafigura Trading, Phillips 66 and Vitol. In March the U.S. agreed to loan 172 million barrels from the SPR as part of a broader IEA-led plan by about 30 countries to release roughly 400 million barrels globally. Large SPR withdrawals have reduced its capacity to cushion price swings; stock levels are at their lowest since 1982.

A New York Fed study finds LinkedIn-derived indicators—including an applicants-per-job index and a hiring rate—track conventional JOLTS vacancy and labor-flow measures and in some cases outperform them. When applicants per vacancy are low the labor market is typically considered tight, which may put upward pressure on wages. Researchers say these LinkedIn indicators are notably more timely than the JOLTS hiring rate and other traditional tightness measures.