BP Sees More Upsides to Upstream Ahead in 2018 -- Commodity Comment
February 06 2018 - 9:17AM
Dow Jones News
LONDON--British oil-and-gas giant BP PLC (BP.LN) on Tuesday
reported a $583 million loss for the fourth quarter of last year,
mainly as a result of charges connected with the 2010 oil spill in
the Gulf of Mexico and a paper loss caused by recent U.S.
corporate-tax changes. However--impairments aside--2017 proved to
be BP's most profitable year since oil prices crashed just over
three years ago.
Here are some remarks from BP's earnings report:
On the upstream oil business...
"2017 oil-and-gas production, excluding Rosneft, was 12% higher
than in 2016, the highest since 2010. Upstream unit production
costs were 16% lower, benefiting from production growth and
continued cost discipline...In the quarter, BP accessed significant
new exploration acreage in the Santos basin of Brazil and in Cote
d'Ivoire with Kosmos Energy. BP announced six exploration
discoveries in 2017--the cumulative discovery of around 1 billion
boe [barrels of oil equivalent] of resources was BP's largest since
2004."
On the downstream business...
"Fuels marketing earnings increased by more than 10% in 2017.
Premium fuel volumes grew by 6% and BP's convenience partnership
model increased to 1,100 sites worldwide. More than 120 BP retail
sites in Mexico were operational at year end. In lubricants, BP
delivered premium brand growth and increased earnings from growth
markets. In manufacturing, both refining and petrochemicals grew
earnings with record levels of advantaged feedstock processed in
refining."
On the transition away from petroleum products...
"BP acquired a 43% interest in Lightsource, Europe's largest
solar development company, supporting its rapid expansion
worldwide. Other progress included BP enhancing its biofuels
business in Brazil through an ethanol-storage joint venture,
forming a partnership with Aria Energy to expand its renewable gas
portfolio in the U.S. and, in January, BP Ventures investing in the
electric vehicle fast-charging company Freewire."
On the 2018 outlook for upstream...
"We expect full-year 2018 underlying production to be higher
than 2017 due to the ramp up of major projects...We expect
first-quarter 2018 reported production to be broadly flat with the
fourth quarter 2017, reflecting continued growth from the 2017
major project startups, offset by the expiration of the Abu Dhabi
offshore concession and divestment impacts."
On the 2018 outlook for downstream...
"Looking to the first quarter of 2018, we expect higher
discounts for North American heavy crude oil but lower industry
refining margins. In addition, we expect our turnaround activity to
be lower in refining but significantly higher in
petrochemicals."
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 06, 2018 09:02 ET (14:02 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
BP (NYSE:BP)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2024 to May 2024
BP (NYSE:BP)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2023 to May 2024