BP’s third-quarter investor conference call began with contrition for a fatal fire. The UK-listed oil major made no apology for strong results. Finance director Murray Auchincloss had a successful general’s swagger. Adjusted net income of $8.1bn beat expectations by 30 per cent. BP now stands for “bumper profits”.
No wonder there is a clamour for higher windfall taxes. Record profits are painting targets on the backs of BP and its peers. At least the UK government has not labelled BP and Shell “war profiteers”, as President Joe Biden has done with US groups.
BP’s gas and low carbon unit was its biggest triumph — or perhaps, greatest embarrassment. Underlying profits more than tripled year on year to $6.2bn. Much of this appears to have come from gas trading as Russia reduced supplies.