BP turns to profit in 2016

UK-based energy giant and LNG player, BP reported a slight net profit for 2016, recovering from heavy losses the company logged the previous year.

BP posted a profit of $115 million, compared with the headline loss of $6.5 billion reported for 2015.

Theses figures included a total of $4 billion non-operating charges taken through the year associated with resolution of the remaining legacy of the 2010 oil spill.

BP’s underlying replacement cost profit, the company’s definition of net income, was at $2.59 billion compared to $5.91 billion the year before.

The company said on Tuesday that the 2016 price environment was “challenging” as the average Brent oil price of $44 per barrel was the lowest for 12 years. The Henry Hub gas marker prices averaged $2.46 per million British thermal units and the refining marker margin was also the lowest since 2010, BP said.

In the fourth quarter of 2016, BP’s underlying replacement cost profit fell to $400 million, compared with $560 million expected by analysts but better than $196 million made a year earlier, according to Reuters.

BP said it will balance its books at an oil price of around $60 per barrel by the end of 2017 and expects organic capital expenditure to be in the range of $16-17 billion in 2017.

LNG World News Staff