BP profits more than double to $5.6bn

By Ed Crooks, Energy Editor

Published: April 27 2010 08:44 | Last updated: April 27 2010 14:05

Weathered oil from the destroyed Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico is spotted near the coast of Louisiana on Tuesday morning

BP has exceeded analysts’ expectations with a 135 per cent rise in post-tax profits for the first quarter, and continued to cut its debts, thanks to the rebound in oil and gas prices and an improvement in the performance of its refineries.

BP’s share price fell more than one per cent despite the better than expected results partly because of the fatal explosion at a rig working for BP in the Gulf of Mexico, from which 11 workers are still missing. On Tuesday BP intensified efforts to stop the underwater well leak that was streaming oil 80 miles across the Gulf of Mexico.

The dividend was left unchanged at 14 cents per share, for the eighth successive quarter.

Replacement cost profit, which strips out the effect of changes in the value of inventories, was $5.6bn for the quarter, up from $2.39bn in the equivalent period of 2009.

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