BP $BP reported second-quarter net profit of $3.91 billion on Tuesday, more than double the $1.62 billion it posted in the same period last year, as the U.S.-Iran war drove oil and gas prices sharply higher.
The British energy giant posted $3.91 billion in net profit for the second quarter, up from $1.62 billion a year earlier
John Keeble / Getty Images
BP $BP reported second-quarter net profit of $3.91 billion on Tuesday, more than double the $1.62 billion it posted in the same period last year, as the U.S.-Iran war drove oil and gas prices sharply higher.
A core profit measure that strips out certain items came in at $5.7 billion for the April-to-June period, the company said. Analyst expectations for that figure stood at $5 billion, according to CNBC. Total revenue climbed 47% to $70 billion compared with a year earlier.
The results reflect conditions that have upended global energy markets. Fighting between Washington and Tehran has severely disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway that handles around a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas. Together, the five major Western oil companies — BP, Chevron $CVX, ExxonMobil $XOM, Shell $SHEL and TotalEnergies — earned close to $47 billion in combined net profit during the quarter, according to Euronews.
BP chief executive Meg O'Neill, who has led the company since April, said in a statement that the quarter occurred during "one of the most disrupted periods in the global energy market." "We are not making the most of our potential," O'Neill added. "Our performance over the past few years has not met our own expectations, let alone those of our shareholders."
O'Neill addressed President Donald Trump's criticism of oil companies over high fuel prices. "I understand the pressure that the ordinary household feels when they pull into the service station to fill up and see the prices," O'Neill told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe." "The reality is we produce a global commodity and the prices for the product we sell hangs off that global commodity price." Trump on Monday called out Exxon Mobil and Chevron for making "too much money" off higher fuel prices.
The company reported quarterly operating cash flow of $10.9 billion, while net debt dropped to $22.25 billion by quarter's end, compared with $25.3 billion three months earlier, the company said. BP raised its quarterly dividend by 4% to 8.66 cents per ordinary share.
Oil prices posted their biggest monthly gain since March in July, with Brent crude rising roughly 20% as the conflict escalated and disruptions spread across key shipping routes. The International Energy Agency has forecast that global supply will fall by 3.9 million barrels per day in 2026, with the war estimated to have blocked more than 14 million barrels per day of Middle East output.
BP announced Tuesday that it is moving to divest Archaea Energy, a U.S. biogas unit it purchased for $4.1 billion in 2022. The company also said it had completed the sale of its Gelsenkirchen refinery in Germany and plans to sell its North Sea business. BP stock climbed 0.8% on Tuesday.
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