BP profits triple to $8.5bn amid soaring household energy bills

BP, one of the world’s largest oil companies, has reported an underlying profit of $8.5 billion, up from $6.2 billion in the previous quarter and triple the $2.8 billion in the same period last year.

Its shares rose more than 3 percent in trading in London, where the company is based.

The results mean that the five biggest Western oil companies — BP, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Shell and TotalEnergies — generated $60 billion (usd) in profits for the second quarter.

Part of the record profits are the result of the spike in crude oil, due to the war in Ukraine.

BP said it expects to increase dividends by about four per cent annually through 2025.

The good news for BP shareholders was bad news for consumers as soaring energy prices contribute to the cost-of-living crisis around the world.

Sharan Graham from Unite the Union in Britain, where BP is headquartered said “household energy bills are to rise to a calamitous £3,600 a year. How can this contrast continue time after time? The British economy does not work for workers and their families. Britain’s real crisis isn’t rising prices it’s an epidemic of unfettered profiteering.”

In July this year, BP New Zealand reported a $230 million after-tax profit for 2021.