Energy giant BP saw profits profits surge to a record last quarter as the Middle East conflict drove oil prices higher.
Underlying replacment cost profit rose almost fourfold over last year year to $8.46bn, well ahead of the $7.33bn forecast by analysts and $2.2 billion a year ago.
It helped the company cut its debt by more than $10bn, or 45% in the past six months.
Chief executive Meg O’Neill, who took over in April and made tackling debt a priority, said: “We have now delivered our net debt and structural cost reductions targets and have line of sight on the remaining two of the four primary financial targets we set ourselves for 2027.”
However, she also adopted a cautious tone, acknowledging that oil prices would eventually come down.
“We continue to be more levered than our peers. We need to be competitive in all environments,” she said.
Ms O’Neill has begun remodelling BP into two divisions, one focused on oil and gas production and the other on refining and sales. She has put BP’s oil and gas fields in the UK’s North Sea and its $4bn biogas business in the US up for sale.
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