Europe's second-biggest oil producer BP today said first-quarter profit rose 63 per cent to a record after crude soared to an all-time high and natural gas gained.
Net income climbed to $7.62 billion, or 40.4 cents a share, from $4.66 billion, or 24.1 cents, a year earlier, the London - based company said today in a statement.
Excluding inventory changes and one-time items, earnings beat analysts' estimates.
Oil traded at $100 a barrel for the first time on January 2nd and touched $111.80 in March as a falling dollar spurred investors to buy commodities, while gas jumped 22 per cent on average.
The increase in oil squeezed earnings from refining by outpacing gains in gasoline. Crude reached a record $119.93 yesterday.
BP rose as much as 27.5 pence, or 4.8 per cent, to 606 pence in London trading and was at 605.5 pence as of 8.41am.
Chief executive officer Tony Hayward, who replaced John Browne a year ago, is bringing new production and refining capacity on line to improve earnings, which have lagged behind rivals Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell.
Hayward said April 17th profit will rise in the second half when output starts at BP's Thunder Horse platform in the Gulf of Mexico after a three-year delay and US refineries return to full operation.
Excluding gains or losses from holding inventories and one- time items, profit advanced to $6.49 billion in the first quarter from $4 billion a year earlier.
BP has begun to calculate profit by this measure after deducting taxes, having previously reported pretax earnings, Rob Wine, a London-based spokesman for the company, said today.
Profit beat analyst estimates in part because of higher earnings from gas, liquefied natural gas and oil-product trading, he said. The results "are above the trend" and may not remain at this level "in the next couple of quarters".
Bloomberg