A BP company logo is displayed on a fuel pump on the forecourt of a gas station operated by BP Plc in London, U.K.
Chris Ratcliffe | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Energy giant BP reported better-than-expected second-quarter profits on Tuesday, citing a solid upstream and downstream performance.
U.K.-based BP posted second-quarter underlying replacement cost profit, used as a proxy for net profit, of $2.8 billion, versus $2.5 billion expected in a Reuters poll. That compared with a profit of $2.8 billion over the same period a year earlier and $2.4 billion in the first three months of 2019.
“I think the numbers are good. This is about the 10th quarter in a row now they have been above our expectations,” Bob Dudley, chief executive of BP, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Tuesday.
“It is a good quarter — a strong quarter,” he added.
The company’s second-quarter results come after France’s Total reported an almost 20% fall in second-quarter adjusted net profit last week. The Paris-listed firm cited unfavorable market conditions for the first-half of the year, including low oil prices, sharp declines in gas prices and sliding refining margins.
International benchmark Brent crude has fallen more than 13% since the end of the first quarter, with U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) down 12% over the same period.
Many of the world’s other major oil and gas companies are scheduled to report their latest quarterly figures over the coming days.
Anglo-Dutch energy giant Royal Dutch Shell is due to publish its second-quarter results on Thursday, with U.S.-based Exxon Mobil and Chevron set to report on Friday.
