BP Earnings Whacked by Low Crude Price, Gulf of Mexico Disaster

BP PLC (NYSE: BP) reported first-quarter 2016 results before markets opened Tuesday morning. The oil and gas supermajor posted adjusted diluted earnings per American depositary share (ADS) of $0.17 on revenues of $39.17 billion. In the same period a year ago, the company reported a net loss per ADS of $0.85 on revenues of $56.24 billion. Analysts estimated a net loss per ADS of $0.17 on revenues of $42.99 billion. One ADS is equal to six ordinary shares.

BP’s adjusted replacement cost profit (essentially the company’s adjusted net income/loss) in the first quarter totaled $532 million, compared with $2.58 billion in the year-ago quarter. Unadjusted, the loss totaled $485 million, or $0.16 per share, compared with a profit of $2.1 billion and earnings per ADS of $0.69 in the first quarter of 2015.

The company’s price realization on a barrel of liquids dropped from $46.79 in the first quarter of last year to $26.97. In the fourth quarter of 2015, BP reported a realized a price of $37.05 per barrel of liquids.

Liquids production rose to 1.41 million barrels a day in the first quarter, up from 1.26 million in the first quarter of 2015. BP said it expects production to be lower in the second quarter.
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The company took a $917 million charge in the first quarter related to the Gulf of Mexico well explosion in 2010. To date BP has paid out $56.37 billion in pretax charges related to the disaster.

CFO Brian Gilvary said:

As we steadily take out more costs, the point at which we expect to be able to rebalance 2017 organic sources and uses of cash continues to move lower; we currently anticipate being able to achieve this at oil prices in the range $50-55 a barrel. This progress underpins our commitment to sustaining BP’s dividend as the first priority within our financial frame. Should prices remain low, we have the flexibility to adjust further within the financial framework.

The company also announced Tuesday its regular quarterly dividend of $0.60 per ADS, a dividend yield of 7.47% at Monday’s closing price.

BP’s ADSs closed down about 1.1% on Monday, at $31.79 in a 52-week range of $27.01 to $43.85. The ADSs were up 4.5% to $33.21 in the premarket session, and shares traded up nearly 5% in London. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of $34.26 before Tuesday’s report.