28th Oct 2014 07:30
LONDON (Alliance News) - BP PLC Tuesday reported a drop in third-quarter earnings due to lower oil prices and production, but said it hit its cash flow targets and it is on track to hit its 2014 targets.
During the quarter ended September 30, the company reported an underlying pretax replacement cost profit of USD3.9 billion, compared with USD4.4 billion in the same period in 2013.
Operating cash flow for the quarter totalled US9.4 billion compared to USD6.3 billion a year earlier. For the first nine months of 2014, total operating cash flow has reached USD25.2 billion.
"BP's operational momentum continues to deliver results," said Chief Executive Bob Dudley. "Growing underlying production of oil and gas and a good downstream performance generated strong cash flow in the third quarter, despite lower oil prices. This keeps us well on track to hit our targets for 2014."
As a result of hitting cash flow targets, BP announced a quarterly dividend of 10.00 cents per ordinary share, a 5.3% year-on-year increase which is expected to be paid in December, it said in a statement.
BP also revised down its organic capital expenditure target for the full year to USD23 billion, compared to its original guidance of between USD24 billion and USD25 billion. BP's net debt was equivalent to a gearing level of 15%, within the company's target of between 10% to 20%, it said.
"We are maintaining our strong financial framework, with both a conservative level of gearing and a strictly disciplined approach to investment," said Chief Financial OFficer Brian Gilvary. "This provides resilience through periods of oil market volatility."
The company reported average production of 3.1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day during the third quarter ended September 30. Excluding production from Russia, underlying gas and oil production grew by 4.1% compared with a year earlier.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
Copyright 2014 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
BP