BP Posts First Quarterly Loss in Seven Years on Oil

BP Plc, Europe’s second-biggest oil company, reported its first quarterly loss in seven years as the global recession spurred a record plunge in crude prices.

The loss was $3.3 billion, or 18 cents a share, compared with net income of $4.4 billion, or 23 cents, a year earlier, London-based BP said today in a statement. Excluding one-time items and gains or losses from inventories, earnings missed analyst estimates.

Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward is adding production and refining capacity to boost BP’s earnings, which have lagged behind rivals such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc. Output rose for the first time in three years as new projects, including the Thunder Horse field in the Gulf of Mexico, were ramped up. Refining availability jumped to a three- year high after the return of BP’s two biggest U.S. refineries.

“Oil and gas production was actually up, which is good news,” Ian Henderson, who manages $7 billion in natural- resource assets at JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s asset management unit in London, said today in a Bloomberg TV interview. “The environment is very challenging.”

Bloomberg