Last Chance

23 October 2007 By Cyrus Sanati

Tony Hayward warned of a dreadful quarter. It wasn’t quite that bad. Still, most things that could go wrong did go wrong. It should be easy for the new chief executive to unveil better numbers going forward. But he’ll have to carry through promised changes if BP is to impress.

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BP reported a thirdquarter replacement cost profit of $3.867bn, down 45% compared to the same period last year.

It beat consensus estimates by 6% due to higher earnings from its refining section and a lower effective tax rate from its overseas operations.

Natural gas realisations fell 12% from the same period last year but oil and other liquids were up the same amount amid the soaring price of oil.

Refining margins plummeted 50% from the second quarter due to high oil prices and sluggish product prices.

Dow Jones and others reported that BP has agreed wtih US regulators that it will pay $303m to settle civil charges over manipulation of the US propane market three years ago.

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