BP reports highest quarterly profits since start of Ukraine war amid Middle East crisis

BP has reported its highest quarterly profits since the first year of Russia’s war on Ukraine because of rising oil and gas prices caused by the Middle East crisis.

The oil company’s quarterly profits more than doubled to $5.73bn (£4.27bn) in the three months to the end of June, up $2.5bn from the quarter before, as the ongoing conflict in the Middle East continued to disrupt energy exports from the Gulf.

Despite the company’s better than expected profits, its new chief executive, Meg O’Neill, said there was “more to do” because BP was “not making the most” of its potential.

O’Neill is expected to undertake an overhaul of the 117-year-old company, including an exit from the North Sea after six decades of production from the UK’s oil and gas basin.

O’Neill told CNBC on Tuesday morning that she had held a conversation with Andy Burnham, and that the new PM had “reinforced his desire to work closely with business” and be pragmatic”.

“The UK is still using a huge amount of oil and natural gas every single day, and we ought to be using our domestic resources first instead of buying those resources from a third party,” O’Neill added.

“You know, I think the new prime minister has come in with a focus on being pragmatic, and with a focus on understanding how communities around the nation can benefit from developing local economic outcomes.”

Burnham was warned last week he could face the first revolt of his premiership over his apparent support for renewed drilling for oil and gas.

BP revealed its climbing profits days after Shell posted its second-highest quarterly earnings on record after months of market volatility caused by the Middle East crisis.

Europe’s largest oil company doubled its net profit to almost $10bn in the three months to June, the highest since its record earnings in the months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Middle East crisis has also helped the Saudi ⁠oil company Aramco to a ⁠44% rise in ​net profits to $32.69bn in ​the three ​months ​ending on ​30 June, despite disruptions in ‌the strait of Hormuz, owing to higher ​sales revenue for refined and chemical products and crude oil.

The windfall profits for the world’s biggest oil and gas companies have faced criticism. Households and businesses are struggling with rising energy bills, and millions have been affected by severe heatwaves across Europe, which are made more likely and more severe by the fossil-fuel-driven climate crisis.

Donald Trump has said Chevron and ExxonMobil, which also reported sharp profit increases this week, are “making too much money” and should return some of their profits back to the public.

Rosie Downes, head of campaigns at Friends of the Earth, said: “Clearly not everyone is feeling the pain of the energy crisis. While BP banks another round of enormous profits, millions of households are paying the price through sky-high energy bills and a climate crisis accelerating rapidly out of control with increasingly severe heatwaves, wildfires and droughts.”