LONDON (AP) — Britain’s energy giant BP posted strong quarterly earnings Tuesday, even as oil and natural prices that skyrocketed after Russia’s war in Ukraine last year have decreased.
London-based BP said it earned $5bn in underlying replacement cost gains in the first three months of the year, up from $4.8bn in the previous quarter. The figure excludes unique items and fluctuations in the value of inventories.
The company said that earnings report “reflects an exceptional gas trading and trading result” and a “very strong oil trading result.”
“This has been a quarter of strong performance and strategic delivery,” CEO Bernard Looney said in a statement.
Oil companies around the world have been reporting windfall profits in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which sent energy prices soaring and reduced some of Moscow’s supplies to the world.
The big gains and the resulting hefty salaries for heads of energy companies have spurred demands that companies do more to protect consumers squeezed by rising energy bills that have triggered inflation.
The latest earnings figures were lower than BP’s $6.2bn posted in the first quarter of 2022, but still beat analysts’ expectations, even as oil and gas prices have gone down since it skyrocketed in the first half of last year.
The earnings report reignited a debate in the UK over impose higher business taxes get a windfall from high energy prices in the midst of Russia’s war. British opposition leader Keir Starmer told the BBC that BP’s profits are “above” what the company expected and should contribute to an “appropriate windfall tax”.
BP said it expected oil demand to “remain elevated” in the second quarter due to a recent decision by some OPEC+ nations to restrict productioncombined with strengthening Chinese demand.
The company has also recently come under fire for cutting its climate targets, watering down its targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions by a third, while planning to pump more oil and gas by the end of the decade than previously forecast.
BP also announced additional plans to reward shareholders, buying back an additional $1.75 billion of shares, though that was down from the $2.75 billion buyback in the previous quarter.
The energy giant’s rivals have posted similarly impressive financial results in recent weeks. Exxon got a record $11.4 billion in the first quarter, and Chevron raised $6.6 billion.
Saudi Aramco said in March that it made $161 billion in 2022, the highest annual profit ever recorded by a publicly traded company.
Shell, another London-based energy giant, is due to report quarterly earnings on Thursday.