- BP +1.5% premarket after reporting surging Q2 earnings that edged past analyst consensus estimates, helped by higher oil prices, and its first dividend increase in nearly four years.
- BP (LON:BP) says its Q2 underlying replacement cost profit, the company's definition of net income, rose to $2.8B, topping forecasts of $2.7B and 4x higher than in the same period last year, according to Reuters.
- BP's upstream business reported its strongest quarter since Q3 2014 on both a replacement cost and underlying basis; with production rising 1.4% to 3.6M boe/day; downstream reported strong refining performance, with record levels of crude processed at the Whiting refinery in the U.S.
- Gearing, the ratio between debt and BP’s market value, continued to slide to 27.8 % at the end of the quarter from 28.1% at the end of Q1, and net debt was $39.3B at the end of Q2 vs. $40B at the end of Q1.
- "We changed our strategic direction six quarters ago, this is the sixth quarter in a row we've been at or above expectations," CEO Bob Dudley tells CNBC. "The company's got momentum, it feels good."
- Earlier: BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) to exit onshore U.S. shale in $10.5B deal with BP (July 26)
- Now read: Wall Street Breakfast: BOJ Sticks To Crisis-Era Stimulus
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