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Oil major BP unveiled plans to buyback $1.4 billion of shares and raised its dividend after swinging to a profit in the second quarter of the year thanks to a boost from rising oil prices.
Underlying replacement cost profit was $2.8 billion compared with a loss of $6.68 billion in the prior-year period, while
Profit was $2.8 billion, compared with $2.6 billion for the previous quarter.
'This result was driven by higher oil prices and margins offset by a lower result in gas marketing and trading,' the company said
Reported production for the quarter was 875mboe per day, slightly higher compared to the same period in 2020.
BP raised its quarterly dividend by 4% to 5.46 cents per share.
'On average at around $60 per barrel, we expect to be able to deliver buybacks of around $1.0 billion per quarter and to have capacity for an annual increase in the dividend per ordinary share of around 4%, through 2025,' the company said.
Looking ahead, the company expects third quarter reported upstream production to be higher than the second quarter 'reflecting the completion of seasonal maintenance activity and the ramp-up of major projects. Within this, we expect production from oil production & operations to be higher.'
'For full year 2021 we expect reported upstream production to be lower than 2020 due to the impact of the ongoing divestment programme. However, underlying production* should be slightly higher than 2020 with the ramp-up of major projects, primarily in gas regions, partly offset by the impacts of reduced capital investment and decline in lower-margin gas assets,' it added.