BP sees oil output fall for sixth quarter

LONDON – BP, the world’s second largest oil company, has said that its energy production dropped by five percent in the final three months of 2006, the sixth quarterly drop in a row.

In a trading update on Tuesday, BP said it pumped 3.82 million barrels of oil and gas per day in the fourth quarter compared with 4.02 million barrels during the same period a year earlier owing to supply disruptions in Alaska, a cut in output by OPEC oil-producing cartel and weak demand for gas.

Analysts had expected fourth-quarter output in the region of 4.0 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (mboed).

BP’s share price slumped about 2.0 percent in response to the data.

AFP