ConocoPhillips, BP Plc and Caterpillar Inc. won't renew their memberships in the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, a coalition of companies and environmental groups seeking legislation to reduce greenhouse- gas emissions.

Proposals in the U.S. Congress "unfairly penalized" domestic refineries, ConocoPhillips Chief Executive Officer Jim Mulva said today in a statement. The role of natural gas in lowering greenhouse-gas emissions has been ignored, he said.

"We believe greater attention and resources need to be dedicated to reversing these missed opportunities, and our actions today are part of that effort," Mulva said.

ConocoPhillips, based in Houston, was the first U.S. oil producer to join the group in 2007. BP and Caterpillar, founding members of the group, said they want to focus on their own approaches to global warming.

The House approved a climate bill in June that would reduce emissions 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. The measure, endorsed by the Climate Action Partnership, has stalled in the Senate, as at least a dozen Democrats and Senate Republicans balked at the House approach.

Comprehensive Legislation

Senators John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, and Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, are working on compromise legislation.

The Climate Action Partnership believes "U.S. action on energy and climate legislation in 2010 will preserve and create American jobs, secure our energy future and generate new investment in the global clean energy economy," according to an e-mailed statement today.

The remaining 28 members listed on the partnership's Web site include Royal Dutch Shell Plc's U.S. unit, Exelon Corp., General Electric Co. and the Nature Conservancy. The group said it has added three new corporate entities in the past seven months and sees more additions ahead.

BP remains committed to achieving climate-change legislation in the U.S., said Ronnie Chappell, a company spokesman. The London-based company believes it can be "more effective" in the climate debate as a single entity, not part of a larger group, he said.

Supporting Technologies

Caterpillar "decided to direct our resources toward the commercialization of technologies that will promote and provide sustainable development and reduce carbon emissions," Kate Kenny, a spokeswoman for the Peoria, Illinois-based company, said today in an e-mail.

She cited Caterpillar's support for the FutureGen Alliance, which seeks to build a coal-fired power plant in Illinois with near-zero emissions.

ConocoPhillips is working on other approaches to put a cost on carbon-dioxide emissions, and doesn't see a "comprehensive" climate bill becoming law this year, said Red Cavaney, senior vice president of government affairs.

"It doesn't seem like having anybody involved has really gotten them listened to, so why bother?" said Philip Weiss, an analyst at Argus Research in New York who has a "hold" rating on ConocoPhillips shares and owns none. Weiss also has a "buy" rating on BP and owns about 150 of its shares.

Shell plans to remain associated with the Climate Action Partnership, Jill Davis, a U.S. spokeswoman for The Hague-based company, said today in an e-mail. It is poised to be the only oil company in the group.

Davis said Shell "will remain engaged in advocating for federal legislation that will protect existing jobs, create new jobs via development of domestic oil and gas resources allowing the U.S. to be more self-reliant, incentivize the development of lower carbon energies and reduce greenhouse gas emissions."

ConocoPhillips rose $1.25, or 2.6 percent, to $49.92 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Caterpillar climbed 92 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $57.12. BP rose 12.9 pence, or 2.2 percent, to 588.2 pence in London trading.

--With assistance from Daniel Whitten in Washington. Editors: Tina Davis, Kim Jordan.