UK NEWS

BP PROFITS SOAR TO £6.4BN

BP profits have soared due to high oil prices

Tuesday October 28,2008

By Julia White for express.co.uk

Comment Speech Bubble Have your say(12)

OIL giant BP today announced a whopping £6.4bn third-quarter profits as the firm cashed in on record high prices.

The company’s huge haul for the July-September period is a huge 148 per cent above the same period last year.

Its profits came as crude oil prices hit a new peak above 147 US dollars a barrel in mid-July.

They are likely to spark fresh protests from motorists and businesses who have felt the pain at the petrol pump this year.

Oil prices have since fallen by more than half their July peak to just above 60 dollars a barrel as global recession fears mount.

BP chief executive Tony Hayward said: “Although it has since fallen away sharply, the high oil price of the third quarter obviously helped our absolute result.”

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The company averaged a selling price of more than 111 US dollars a barrel, compared to just 71 dollars in the same period last year.

Stripping out exceptional gains, BP’s underlying “clean” profits of £5.7bn shattered City expectations.

Union leaders and politicians angrily attacked the level of profits and one Labour MP said he would be raising the issue in Parliament by calling for a windfall tax.

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John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington) said: “This is a grotesquely obscene level of profiteering by BP and I will be calling in Parliament for price controls and profit windfall taxes.”

Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB union, said: “We have been calling on the Government and the financial authorities to curb speculation in the oil market which has wreaked havoc in the real economy and stoked up inflation.

“Now we see the result of this speculation with BP enjoying huge windfall profits. The public authorities have got to get a grip and stop this speculation.”

Shares in BP rose as much as 8 per cent following the results, which Seymour Pierce analyst Alan Sinclair called “very strong” as the exploration and production division gained from higher oil and gas prices.

IT'S ALL DONE FOR US YOU KNOW...

29.10.08, 9:07am

Yes yes, we have been instructed ever so consistently that these obscene profits are good for the gentry... it will eventually cause all sorts of good for us; just you wait...

• Posted by: TerrifiedCitizen • Report Comment

DON'T BUY BP PETROL THERE ARE OTHER CHEAPER BRANDS

28.10.08, 11:38pm

If BP don't reduce their price in line with others then buy from the others then BP will have to follow, I'm suprised the oil producers arn't bumping their prices up when they see what we are prepared to pay in Britain to keep a greedy goverment's pockets full, I don't think the under a £1 a litre is here for long so enjoy it while it lasts, Brown is just shouting to make thick people think he is causing prices to drop.

• Posted by: CAN • Report Comment

RICHARDMAC...REALLY???

28.10.08, 10:24pm

Especially in recession the government should drop their tax more than what they have........here we pay 70-75p a litre at some garages.....as do other countries pay less how come?????

• Posted by: cocklesandeels • Report Comment

WRONG....

28.10.08, 10:21pm

The Arab oil producers are taking a minimal amount compared to this government and the suppliers profits.

• Posted by: cocklesandeels • Report Comment

BP PROFITS

28.10.08, 3:53pm

actually it's the inept Mc Broon and the robbing arab brigade who are the ones making the huge profits here, but then consumers should vote with their feet (or cars) anyone who buys petrol at a more expensive petrol station rather than a cheaper supermarket deserves to lose out. Common sense really

• Posted by: walesnotuk • Report Comment

HANG ON A MINUET..

28.10.08, 1:37pm

What I'd like to know is how this £6.4bn relates as a percentage to turnover. I for my part, expect more back the more I have to lay out.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but without all the figures it's hard to make a judgement.

• Posted by: Bettsey • Report Comment