BP reports 17 percent drop in 1Q profit

BP PLC, Europe’s second-largest oil company, reported a 17 percent drop in first-quarter earnings Tuesday on lower oil prices and declining production.

“Faced as it is with reduced production and higher costs, lower oil prices and the ongoing barrage resulting from its earlier failures, its challenges are not yet over,” said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Richard Hunter.
BP’s replacement cost profit — which measures the amount it would cost to replace assets at current prices and is viewed by many analysts as the best measure of an oil company’s underlying performance — came it at $4.3 billion (3.2 billion euros), down 17 percent from last year but in line with analysts’ expectations.

Total oil and gas production was lower as expected in the quarter, at 3.91 million barrels of oil equivalent a day, compared to 4.04 million per day a year earlier. The company said that Brent crude was down 7 percent on average over the quarter at $57.80 a barrel.

Houston Chronicle