Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26
By Aygun Badalova - Trend:
BP’s profit for the second quarter of 2016 was $720 million compared to $532 million for the previous quarter and $1.3 billion for the second quarter of 2015, the company’s report on second quarter 2016 results said.
Compared with a year earlier, the underlying second quarter result was impacted by lower oil and gas prices and significantly lower refining margins, but this was partly offset by the benefit of lower cash costs throughout the group as well as lower exploration write-offs, according to the report.
BP’s cash costs over the past four quarters were around $5.6 billion lower than in 2014, according to the report. The company continues to expect these costs for 2017 to be $7 billion lower than in 2014.
Organic capital expenditure for the first half of 2016 was $7.9 billion; full year 2016 capital expenditure is now expected to be below $17 billion.
The Brent oil marker price averaged $46 a barrel in the second quarter, up from $34 in the first quarter but still significantly lower than $62 a year earlier.
On Tuesday, oil hit its their lowest since May, falling towards $44 a barrel, pressured by concerns that a long-awaited rebalancing of the market would be delayed due to excess supply.
Brent, global benchmark, was trading at $44.49 a barrel at 0900 GMT, down 23 cents. It fell to $44.28 intraday, the lowest since May 10. US crude was down 36 cents at $42.77, having fallen to its lowest since April earlier, Reuters reported.