BP profits hit record $13.4bn on soaring oil price

Robin Pagnamenta
London Times
Tuesday, July 29, 2008

BP, the British oil giant, unveiled a 23 per cent rise in profits this morning, boosted by record global crude prices.

Replacement cost profit, which strips out unrealised gains from changes in the value of fuel stocks, hit a record $13.44 billion (£6.7 billion) during the first half of the year, up from $10.93 billion a year ago.

During the second quarter to June 30 2008, profits rose from $6.48 billion to an all-time high of $6.85 billion.

Despite the record result, the company said that it was struggling to restore earnings from its troubled US refining division and offered little news on TNK-BP, its Russian joint venture.

BP is currently engaged in a row with its Russian joint-venture partners over control of TNK-BP, and last week its chief executive, Robert Dudley, fled Moscow and is running the business from a secret location.

Today's results showed that the bulk of gains were derived from BP’s exploration and production division, which benefited from “higher oil and gas realisations” during the period.

Oil prices averaged more than $120 a barrel in the second quarter, nearly twice the level during the same period of 2007. Crude touched an all-time high of $147 per barrel just a few days after the end of the quarter, on July 11.

Full article here

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