BP will cut its capital and exploratory budget.

BP posts fall in first-quarter profits

LONDON, April 28, 2015 – BP has posted a fall in first-quarter profits for 2015 of around $900 million, owed largely to low oil and gas prices.

The super-major posted a profit of $2.6 billion for the first three months of the year, compared with profits of $3.5 billion for the same period in 2014. The fall is largely attributable to its upstream business, which posted an underlying profit of $604 million. This compares with first-quarter upstream profits of $4.4 billion a year earlier.

Hydrocarbons output for the quarter was up 8.3 percent, averaging 2.3 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. Underlying production rose by 3.7 percent, largely due to the ramp up of major international projects in 2014.

Oil prices in the quarter were down 50 percent on the same period in 2014, to an average of $54 per barrel.