British energy giant BP PLC said yesterday that net profits rocketed by 175 percent in the third quarter, as it continued to recover from last year’s devastating Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster.
BP added that it will seek to sell another US$15 billion of non-core assets by the end of 2013, expanding its divestment program as the group seeks to recoup its huge costs linked to the catastrophe.
The group said it had reached a “definite turning point” after last year’s disastrous results.
Earnings after taxation hit US$4.907 billion in the July-to-September period, BP said in a results statement, driven by a strong performance from exploration and production.
That compared with US$1.785 billion in the same part of last year.
Production fell by 12 percent to 3.319 million barrels in the third quarter because of the suspension of production in the Gulf of Mexico, though BP expects production to be higher in the current fourth quarter.
BP, which was ravaged by last year’s catastophic spill, added that net profits struck US$17.65 billion in the first nine months of this year. That compared with a loss of US$9.29 billion in the same portion of last year.
Adjusted profits — stripping out the impact of changes in the value of inventories — hit US$5.14 billion in the third quarter, compared with US$1.847 billion last time around.
And on a nine-month comparison, adjusted profits hit US$15.930 billion, which contrasted sharply with a loss of US$9.528 billion last year.
“The financial picture for BP today is very different from a year ago,” BP chief executive Bob Dudley said in a statement.
“We are today reporting replacement cost profits for the first nine months of this year of US$15.9 billion, compared to a US$9.5 billion loss for the same period in 2010, which was driven by the US$40-billion charges we had taken with respect to Gulf of Mexico spill related costs,” Dudley said.
Dudley, who was under pressure after the collapse of an Arctic exploration deal with Russian state firm Rosneft, also unveiled an increase in BP’s divestment program from US$30 billion to US$45 billion.
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