BP cuts dividend for first time in decade as pandemic hits demand

BP cut its dividend for the first time in a decade after reporting a record loss in the second quarter as the coronavirus crisis hammered energy demand.
Oil giant BP slashed its dividend in half as it swung to a multi-billion dollar loss in the second quarter of the year as the Covid-19 pandemic pushed down oil prices.Oil giant BP slashed its dividend in half as it swung to a multi-billion dollar loss in the second quarter of the year as the Covid-19 pandemic pushed down oil prices.
Oil giant BP slashed its dividend in half as it swung to a multi-billion dollar loss in the second quarter of the year as the Covid-19 pandemic pushed down oil prices.

The payout was cut from 10.25 US cents (7.84p) to 5.23 US cents (4p), the oil company said on Tuesday.

Underlying replacement cost loss hit 6.68 billion US dollars (£5.1 billion), slightly better than the 6.8 billion dollars (£5.2 billion) that analysts had predicted.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It is a drop from 2.8 billion dollars (£2.1 billion) this time last year as the price of oil fell by more than half over the period.

BP chief executive Bernard Looney said: “These headline results have been driven by another very challenging quarter, but also by the deliberate steps we have taken as we continue to reimagine energy and reinvent BP.

“In particular, our reset of long-term price assumptions and the related impairment and exploration write-off charges had a major impact.

“Beneath these, however, our performance remained resilient, with good cash flow and – most importantly – safe and reliable operations.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing subscriptions@jpimedia.co.uk. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor

Related topics: