BP's third quarter profits slump to $2.3 bln due to a decline in oil demand

BP reported higher than expected third quarter profits, $2.3 billion. This is their lowest profit in nearly four years. The drop in refinery profits and the weakening of oil trading were to blame.

The drop of 30% in profits compared to a year ago is due to a slowdown on the global economy and in oil demand in particular in China. This puts pressure on CEO Murray Auchincloss, who has pledged that BP will improve its performance in response investor concerns about its energy transformation strategy.

BP's underlying net profit (defined as the replacement cost profit by the company) reached $2.27billion in the third-quarter, surpassing expectations of $2.05billion in a survey conducted by the company.

This compares to a profit of $2.8 billion in the prior quarter and $3.3billion a year ago.

The results are the lowest since the fourth quarter 2020 when profits fell during the pandemic.

After increasing it the previous quarter, the energy giant kept its dividend unchanged at 8 cents per share. The company also maintained the $1.75 billion share-buyback program for the next three month period. (Reporting and editing by Clarence Fernandez, editing by Jason Neely; Editing by Ron Bousso)

(source: Reuters)