Bob Dudley, BP Group Chief Executive, said: "The results show strong underlying pre-tax performance from BP's businesses. We are seeing growth in production from new high-margin projects and are making good progress in exploration and project delivery. Completion of our operational milestones confirms our confidence in delivering our commitment to materially increase operating cash flow in 2014."
The reported post-tax result of $2.7 billion for the quarter was adversely affected by:
lower oil prices;
an unusually high underlying effective tax rate of 45%, compared to 35% a year earlier, largely due to the impact of the stronger dollar on a basket of currencies; and
lower post-tax income from Russia, driven by rouble depreciation and the lagging effect of Russian oil export duty, which has a disproportionate effect in periods of falling prices.
BP announced a share buy-back programme in March and, as of July 26, has spent $2.4 billion repurchasing shares for cancellation. At the end of the second quarter, BP's net debt ratio, or gearing, was 12.3%, at the low end of BP's targeted range of 10%-20%.
BP today announced a quarterly dividend of nine cents a share, expected to be paid in September.
