BP reports gas and oil price hits; increased upstream production in the second quarter
BP said that its second-quarter results will be affected by lower gas and oil prices, but the upstream production is expected to be higher than originally forecast. The company announced this in a trading report on Friday, ahead of the results scheduled for August 5.
Crude oil fell in the first quarter of the year as OPEC+ (the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries plus its allies, such as Russia), began to reverse the self-imposed production reductions of 2,17 million barrels a day that it had imposed in April.
BP reported that crude oil prices in the second quarter averaged $67.88 a barrel, compared to $75.73 a barrel in the prior quarter.
BP stated that the impact of realisations (prices) in the segment gas & low-carbon energy, compared with the previous quarter, is expected to be between $(0.10) and (0.30) billion.
In the oil production and operations segment, the realisations are expected to impact the quarter in the range $(0.6)-$(0.8) billion.
BP stated that its expected gas trading result was average without providing further details.
BP forecasted a rise of the average refining margins to $21.1 a barrel in the third quarter from $15.2 a barrel in the previous three-month period.
The higher refinery margins will benefit its customers and products businesses by $300 to $500 million, compared to last quarter. This is despite increased maintenance at the plants.
The division's oil trading is strong, it was said.
BP's oil and gas production in the second quarter is expected to exceed that of the first quarter when it produced 2,24 million barrels equivalents per day. It cites the U.S. Onshore Business as a driving force. It had previously predicted a flat trend.
The net debt for the quarter is expected to be slightly less than the $27 billion of the previous quarter.
Shell, the rival company, said this week it expected its quarterly earnings to be affected by a weaker trade in its integrated Gas division and losses from chemicals and products operations.
(source: Reuters)
