Sharp drop in BP’s first-quarter profit

British energy company BP’s profit in the first quarter of this year fell 20.6 percent compared with the same period last year, falling to $4.96 billion.

According to first-quarter financial results announced by the company, BP’s debt, which was $27.5 billion in the first quarter of last year, decreased to $21.2 billion in the same period this year.

In the first quarter of this year, the company made a profit of $4.96 billion.

This figure was down 20.6 percent compared to $6.25 billion in the same period last year.

The fall in natural gas and oil prices since the end of 2022 was effective in depressing BP’s first-quarter profit.

ANNOUNCES HIGHEST PROFIT IN 114 YEARS

BP also announced that it plans to repurchase $1.75 billion worth of shares before second-quarter results, based on $2.3 billion of excess cash flow in the first quarter of the year.

In his assessment of the results, BP Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Bernard Looney said that the first quarter performance was strong and stated that the “integrated energy company” strategy continues to develop and this is reflected in the performance of the company.

Analyst expectations were for a first-quarter profit of $4.3 billion. BP made a profit of $4.8 billion in the last quarter of 2022 on falling commodity prices.

The company posted the biggest profit in its 114-year history in 2022, at nearly $28 billion, thanks to record oil and gas prices. (AA)