BP posts disappointing £2bn profit but still angers climate activists

BP's results come a day after Rishi Sunak announced new oil and gas projects in the North Sea. Photo: ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP

Oil giant BP reported a 70% drop in profits due to lower oil and gas prices.

The FTSE 100 on Tuesday reported a second-quarter profit of $2 .6bn (£2bn) up from $8.5bn last year. a year earlier.

This is less than $3.5 billion analysts had expected, echoing competitor Shell's equally disappointing data last week.

On Tuesday, BP announced a 10 percent increase in its dividend. and pledged to buy back $1.5 billion more than the $3.9 billion in the first and second quarters.

Bernard Looney, chief executive of BP, said the figures reflect lower profit margins on refineries of the company due to ongoing work.

He added: “We are pursuing our strategy at pace – we have launched two major oil and gas projects to ensure uninterrupted power supply today, and we are accelerating our transformation with our five drivers of transitional growth.

0206 gas prices are almost back to

«And we're doing this for shareholders by increasing dividends and announcing further share repurchases.

«This reflects confidence in our results and cash flow outlook, as well as continued progress in reducing the number of our shares.

This means that BP's first half profit was $7.6 billion compared to $14.7 billion in the previous half. the same period last year when oil and gas prices soared after the start of the war in Ukraine.

The results came a day after Rishi Sunak announced new oil and gas projects in the North Sea in an attempt to boost energy UK security.

His push has angered climate activists who are campaigning to end all new licenses in the UK.

On Tuesday morning, Charlie Kronik, senior climate adviser at Greenpeace UK, said: «BP reports billion dollar profits as wildfires and floods continue to wreak havoc around the world, shows us who really benefits from Rishi Sunak's climate policy reversal.»

will not improve our energy security, solve neither the climate crisis nor the cost of living faced by people across the UK, instead allowing companies like BP and Shell to make even more money for their shareholders.”