BP’s profit almost halves

UK-based energy giant and LNG player, BP reported a 49 percent drop in its third-quarter profit due to lower oil and gas prices and refining margins.

The company made $933 million on an underlying replacement cost basis, compared with $1.8 billion in the same quarter the year before.

The Brent oil price averaged $46 a barrel in the quarter, compared with $50 a barrel in the third quarter last year, and gas prices outside the US were also weaker, BP said in a statement on Tuesday.

BP’s cash costs over the past four quarters were $6.1 billion lower than in 2014, “continuing the Group’s progress towards 2017 cash costs being $7 billion lower than in 2014,” it said.

BP’s expectation for 2016 capital expenditure was reduced again and it is now expected to total around $16 billion, compared to original guidance of $17-19 billion given at the start of the year.

The company expects capital expenditure in 2017 to be between $15 billion and $17 billion.

LNG World News Staff