The group thus posted a net profit group share of 9.26 billion dollars (9.03 billion euros) in the second quarter.

It took the opportunity to increase the dividend paid to its shareholders by 10% for the period and to launch a new share buyback program.

For the first six months of the year, on the other hand, BP posted a net loss of 11.13 billion dollars, the group having spent in the first quarter an after-tax charge of 24.4 billion dollars following its exit of the Russian Rosneft, as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Hydrocarbon prices have been soaring for months and gas prices, which had fallen after the peaks reached in March shortly after the start of the conflict, are soaring again, after the reduction in Russian deliveries.

Excluding exceptional items, BP posted a profit of 8.45 billion dollars in the second quarter and this amounted to 14.7 billion for the first half of the year (i.e. in particular excluding the effects of the exit from Russia).

"Monster Profits"

These quarterly results "the highest in 14 years" are "significantly above analysts' forecasts" and show that "BP is a much more efficient machine than it was in the past", notes Russ Mold, analyst at AJ Bell.

Enough to trickle down some of the profits to its shareholders: after a $2.5 billion share buyback program completed on July 22, BP announced Tuesday 3.5 billion additional buybacks.

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These announcements also supported the action, which climbed 3.44% to 405.85 pence Tuesday around 11:30 GMT on the London Stock Exchange.

BP is the latest oil major to post a pharaonic profit.

The combined profits of the largest companies in the sector (TotalEnergies, Shell, Exxon, Chevron and BP) amounted in the second quarter to around $62.5 billion.

These results are cringe in the United Kingdom, in the grip of a severe crisis of the cost of living and London had announced in May a temporary tax of 25% on the profits of the energy sector, to help partly finance government aid for the poorest households.

Too little, denounced Tuesday the NGO Greenpeace in a press release, calling on the government to tax more "these monstrous profits" and to "stop giving companies massive tax breaks on new destructive investments" in hydrocarbons.

Investment in the UK

"We must remember that just two years ago we had to make the difficult decision to cut the dividend by 50%", in a market in crisis devastated by the pandemic, argued chief executive Bernard Looney during a meeting. an investor conference.

The British tax will not deter the oil giant from investing as planned 18 billion pounds in the United Kingdom over the decade, also assured Mr. Looney, "the majority in the energy transition", but also in hydrocarbons, especially in the North Sea, he detailed.

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BP also announced in June that it would take a 40.5% stake in the Australian project presented as the largest renewable energy plant in the world, which will produce solar, wind or green hydrogen energy: the Asian Renewable Energy Hub (AREH), worth $36 billion.

But since the start of the year, "BP has spent a total of $361 million on low-carbon energy", far less than on hydrocarbons, which "continues to show how little energy is spent. renewables versus oil and gas,” according to CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.

BP says it expects oil prices to remain elevated in the third quarter "due to continued Russian supply disruption" but also inventory levels "significantly below the five-year average".

© 2022 AFP