BP said its third-quarter profits slid 20 per cent from a year earlier, reflecting a sharp drop in the price of crude oil and US natural gas.
Replacement cost net profit - adjusted to reflect the value of crude oil at current prices and to exclude special items - fell to $3.049 billion from $3.796 billion a year ago but remained among its best-ever profit hauls.
Analysts had forecast earnings of $2.65 billion to £3.20 billion. Despite the earnings downturn, BP remains the UK's largest company, delivering the nation's biggest corporate profits.
As with larger global rivals Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch/Shell, BP's results were also hit by lower refining margins and an ever-worsening world chemicals industry environment.