30th Apr 2019 07:25
LONDON (Alliance News) - Oil major BP PLC on Tuesday said it performed well in the first quarter of 2019 in a period of market volatility.
Replacement cost profit, BP's preferred metric, fell 12% to USD2.10 billion from USD2.39 billion the same period the year before and USD2.72 billion the previous quarter.
On an underlying basis, BP's RC profit was USD2.36 billion, down 8.9% from USD2.59 billion a year ago and 32% from USD3.48 billion in the fourth quarter of 2018.
BP nevertheless increased its first-quarter dividend by 2.5% on the year before, paying out 10.25 US cents to shareholders. BP bought back USD50 million worth of shares in the quarter, with buybacks in 2019 to be second half weighted.
Production during the quarter averaged 3.8 million barrels a day of oil equivalent, rising 2.4% year-on-year.
Upstream output rose 2% year-on-year, excluding BP's just-under 20% stake in Russia's Rosneft, with Upstream plant reliability 96.2%, improved from 95.9% year-on-year.
However, refining availability did decline slightly to 94.3% from 94.8%.
Net debt at March 31 was USD45.1 billion, up from USD39.3 billion a year before. The integration of US shale assets from BHP Group PLC is continuing, BP said.
"BP's performance this quarter demonstrates the strength of our strategy," said Chief Executive Bob Dudley.
"With solid Upstream and Downstream delivery and strong trading results, we produced resilient earnings and cash flow through a volatile period that began with weak market conditions and included significant turnarounds. Moving through the year, we will keep our focus on disciplined growth, with efficient project execution and safe and reliable operations."
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