BP net income drops 29% Lower margins, disruptions at refineries weigh on quarterly profit even as crude prices soar. October 23 2007: 4:36 AM EDT
LONDON (AP) -- BP PLC, one of Europe's biggest oil companies, reported Tuesday that profit in the third quarter fell 29 percent compared to a year ago because of lower margins and interruptions of refining activity. The company reported a net profit of $4.4 billion (3.09 billion) in the three months ending Sept. 30, compared to $6.2 billion in the same period of 2006. Revenue rose 2.7 percent to $72.6 billion (50.9 billion). For the first nine months of the year, profit was down 14 percent at $16.4 billion (11.5 billion). The company said refining throughputs were 2.15 billion barrels a day for the quarter, compared to 2.29 billion barrels a day in the same period a year ago. The company said the drop was mainly due to the sale of the Coryton refinery in England in May and lower availability of its Whiting refinery in Indiana, which was hit by a fire in March. Those problems were partly offset by continuing gains at the Texas City refinery which was heavily damaged by an explosion two years ago. BP said it expected Whiting and Texas City to be working at full capacity in the first half of next year. BP shares were up 0.7 percent at 609.5 pence ($12.45) on the London Stock Exchange. Richard Hunter, analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers in London, said the market had been prepared for the downbeat report, and he was optimistic that the worst was over for the company. "The recent oil price highs should underpin performance, along with the resumption of projects such as the Gulf of Mexico, Thunder Horse and, in the foreseeable future, the Texas refinery, which should return to full capacity," Hunter said. "The challenges may not be over but at least the rot seems to have been stopped. The shares appear to have weathered the worst of the storm, and now stand up 5 percent over the last six months, although broadly flat over the last year." __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
