BP Q2 underlying replacement cost profit soars 34%

29 Jul '14

4 min read

BP announced its financial results for the second quarter of 2014. Underlying replacement cost profit for the quarter of 2014 was $3.6 billion, 34% higher than the $2.7 billion reported for the same period in 2013 and 13% higher than the $3.2 billion result for the first quarter of 2014.

The company also announced a quarterly dividend of 9.75 cents per ordinary share, the same level as the previous quarter but 8.3% higher than a year earlier. As previously announced, BP’s board will review the level of the dividend with the first and third quarter results each year.

“This was another successful quarter, delivering both operational progress and robust cash flow. We are continuing to ramp up the major new projects that drive delivery of cash flow and are also now seeing benefits from our focus on operating with greater reliability and efficiency,” said Bob Dudley, BP group chief executive.

“This operational momentum keeps us well on track to meet our 2014 targets and underpins our longer-term commitment to grow distributions to our shareholders.”

Rising oil and gas production from new and recently-started higher-margin upstream projects and increased processing of heavy crude oil by the newly-modernised Whiting refinery contributed to operating cash flow of $7.9 billion in the quarter. Total operating cash flow for the first half of 2014 was $16.1 billion.

Divestments with a cumulative value of $3.4 billion have now been agreed towards BP’s expected total of $10 billion divestments agreed by the end of 2015. Most recently BP agreed the sale of its Hugoton gas assets in Texas for $390 million.

BP plans to use the post-tax proceeds from these divestments predominantly for shareholder distributions, with a bias to share buybacks. In mid-July BP completed the $8 billion share buyback programme introduced following the sale of its interest in TNK-BP, and the divestment programme is now supporting a continuation of buybacks.

In the second quarter, BP’s Upstream segment reported $4.7 billion underlying pre-tax replacement cost profit, compared with $4.3 billion a year earlier and $4.4 billion in the first quarter of 2014.

Compared to a year earlier, the Upstream result reflected the benefits of higher production in key regions and higher oil and gas realisations. This was partly offset by the impact of divestments and higher non-cash costs.

Increasing output from the key regions, primarily the Gulf of Mexico, drove overall underlying production of oil and gas, excluding Russia, up by over 3% compared to a year earlier.

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