U.S. oil giant Exxon Corp. wants to...

U.S. oil giant Exxon Corp. wants to buy a stake in rival British Petroleum Co. following BP’s disastrous stock issue last month, the London Sunday Times said. The newspaper said Exxon is believed to want to acquire a strategic holding in the smaller British competitor, whose shares have been hard hit by the world stock market slump. Industry sources said that, if the report were correct, BP would view such a move with concern, but the action would come as a great relief to underwriters, particularly in Canada and the United States, who suffered great losses in the flopped selloff of $12.8 billion dollars worth of shares. Speculation about Exxon’s interest followed reports that Nomura Securities, the Japanese finance giant, is interested in adding to its BP stock and that Kuwait had bought a 4.9% stake, worth about $417 million, in BP.