The international energy company British Petroleum (BP) reported a decline in profit in Q1 2014, mainly due to the higher costs in the demand for oilfield. The company’s production fell with 8.5% to 2.13 million barrels per day in the first quarter, as also cautioned that it will shrink more in the second quarter. The reason is the planned major maintenance, especially of the sites in the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.
The profit, taking into account the costs of restocking of the company, declined with 23% to 3.23 billion USD compared with 4.22 billion USD an year ago. The revenues for the quarter fell with 2.6% to 91.71 billion USD from 94.11 billion USD. The net profit of the company amounted to 3.53 billion USD against 16.86 billion USD an year ago, and the big difference is due to last year’s sale of BP’s share in TNK-BP for 12.5 billion USD.
The company announced that it will increase its dividend to 9.75 cents per share for Q1 2014, and that it intends to retain its investment in the Russian oil company Rosneft, despite the US decision to impose sanctions on its Executive Director Igor Sechin.
