BP Surges to 2nd Highest Quarterly Profit Ever; Raises Div., Buyback

By Geoffrey Smith 

Investing.com -- BP (LON:BP) posted its second highest quarterly profit in its history on Tuesday after another huge quarter for its upstream and trading divisions.

The UK-based oil and gas major said it will increase its dividend by over 10% and also added another $2.5 billion to its ongoing buyback program.

Underlying replacement cost profit, the group's preferred measure of profitability, more than doubled from a year earlier to $8.15 billion, albeit that figure was down slightly from $8.45 billion three months earlier.

Strong cash flow due to sustained high oil prices meant that the group was able to shave another $800 million from its net debt, which stood at $22 billion at the end of the quarter. That's now down by nearly one-third from a year earlier, when many doubted that BP and other majors would ever be able to shed the debt they had taken on during the initial phase of the pandemic.

The company said its financial strength, coupled with the current outlook for oil prices, means it expects to be able to deliver share buybacks of around $4.0 billion per annum and have capacity for an annual increase of around 4% in the ordinary dividend through 2025.

The numbers are the latest in a series of blowout figures from the oil and gas sector, following on from Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), Chevron (NYSE:CVX), TotalEnergies (EPA:TTEF), and Shell (LON:RDSa) last week.