BP back to black on low price expectations

BP made USD 144 million in profit in Q2, up from a loss of USD 1.42 billion a year earlier, the super-major announced Tuesday.

H1 profit stood at USD 1.59 billion, compared to a loss of USD 2 billion in the same period in 2016. Upstream output was up 10% for the quarter and 6% for the half year.

The company joins peers ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, Total and Statoil, which recently reported an uptick in their operations in the past quarter. Nevertheless, officials said they did not believe business would go back to where it was prior to the global supply glut that brought prices down in 2014.

In a statement, CEO Bob Dudley hailed a “bright, but different” future and said he did not expect oil prices to go much above USD 50 per barrel in the next decade.

“[O]ur break-even levels need to sit below USD 50 a barrel and, in about five years’ time, under USD 40 a barrel,” he added.

“There’s a wave of innovation that will transform what’s possible and I think people are excited by that.”

While BP wrote off USD 753 million in exploration expenses during the past quarter, most of it in Angola, it also made two significant gas discoveries in Trinidad and Senegal and approved two new projects. In downstream, fuels marketing earnings were up about 20% year-on-year for H1.