Net profits of £2bn for BP between April and June – but it’s a sharp fall from the year before | Business News

BP has recorded a giant drop in income within the first half of its monetary yr, as vitality costs fell from the highs seen after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The oil and gasoline big reported web income of simply over $2.5bn (£2bn) for the three months to the tip of June.

It is half the $5bn (£4bn) profit achieved in the preceding three months, the primary quarter of 2023.

Compared with income in the identical interval final yr, the drop is even steeper – $8.45bn (£6.5bn) was recorded at the moment.

A fall in income had been anticipated by analysts, however BP’s outcomes had been worse than anticipated.

BP mentioned it was all the way down to “considerably decrease” refining margins, a “considerably larger stage” of upkeep exercise and decrease oil and gasoline costs; however an “distinctive gasoline advertising and buying and selling consequence, albeit decrease than the primary quarter”.

Chief govt Bernard Looney mentioned it was a “resilient” efficiency, “throughout a interval of serious turnaround exercise and weaker margins in our refining enterprise”.

Two main oil and gasoline tasks had been began, Mr Looney mentioned, and introduced rising shareholder funds and a share buyback scheme.

“This displays confidence in our efficiency and the outlook for money stream, in addition to continued progress decreasing our share rely,” he mentioned.

A resilient shareholder cost is BP’s “first precedence”, the outcomes mentioned.

The Worldwide Power Company has mentioned no new fossil gas mission is appropriate with the globally accepted objective of limiting warming to 1.5C.

After Russia invaded Ukraine, gas and oil prices reached record highs as international locations sought to quickly scale back reliance on Russian imports.

Oil and gasoline producers comparable to BP reaped the monetary advantages of those excessive costs and reported record profits because of this.

A windfall tax was launched by authorities in an effort to rein in income and fund vitality assist measures for shoppers as payments skyrocketed.