BP’s net profit jumps 63.4 percent

British energy giant BP said yesterday that net profit had jumped 63.4 percent to US$7.62 billion in the first quarter of the year, driven by sky-high oil prices.

BP said that net profit, excluding gains from the value of its crude oil inventories, rose 48 percent to US$6.59 billion in the three months to March 31, compared with the same period last year.

That easily beat analyst consensus forecasts for profits of US$5.27 billion.

Production was flat at 3.91 million barrels per day of oil equivalent during the first quarter, BP said in an earnings statement.

The price of oil has broken record after record during the reporting period and hit a historic peak of about US$120 a barrel on Monday.

Separately, Anglo-Dutch energy giant Royal Dutch Shell said yesterday that first-quarter net profits leapt 25 percent to US$9.08 billion dollars because of record-breaking crude oil prices.

Net earnings on a current cost of supply (CCS) basis, excluding fluctuations in the value of inventories, were up 12 percent to US$7.78 billion in the three months ending March 31, compared with the same period last year.

That beat market expectations for a CCS profit of US$6.77 billion.

World oil prices smashed record after record in the first three months of the year and hit an all-time high of almost US$120 per barrel in New York on Monday.

Shell said yesterday that production increased 0.4 percent in the first quarter of the year to 3.52 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.