BP Underlying RC Profit Exceeds Expectations -- Earnings Review

   By Oliver Griffin 
 

BP PLC (BP.LN) reported its fourth-quarter results on Thursday. Here is how the results came in:

UNDERLYING REPLACEMENT COST PROFIT: BP reported fourth-quarter underlying replacement-cost profit--a number similar to the net profit figure used by U.S. oil companies, but which also strips out one-off items--of $2.11 billion, comfortably beating market expectations. Analysts had forecast underlying RC profit of $1.90 billion.

WHAT WE WATCHED

UPSTREAM: The oil company's upstream business--that part of BP that produces and sells oil and gas--was previously forecast to be the star of the show. In the end, BP's underlying RC profit for the upstream business in the fourth quarter came in at $2.22 billion, beating consensus estimates by 10%. This was aided by an 18% increase in fourth-quarter production.

DEEPWATER: Payments regarding the 2010 Deepwater disaster in the Gulf of Mexico hit $5.2 billion in 2017, at the top end of BP's $4.5 billion-$5.5 billion estimate for 2017. Payments in 2018 are expected to be $3 billion, weighted towards the first half of the year.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 06, 2018 07:09 ET (12:09 GMT)

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