BP slides to £2.7bn loss

Oil giant BP swung to a £2.7bn loss in the first six months of the year after taking another £6.3bn hit from its Deepwater Horizon disaster and oil prices continued to plunge.
BP swung to a 4.2 billion US dollar (£2.7 billion) loss in the first six months of the yearBP swung to a 4.2 billion US dollar (£2.7 billion) loss in the first six months of the year
BP swung to a 4.2 billion US dollar (£2.7 billion) loss in the first six months of the year

The group tumbled into the red after the additional charge for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico explosion and devastating oil spill left it nursing hefty losses in the second quarter of £4bn.

BP reached a £12bn settlement in July with the US Department of Justice over the oil spill, which it said would settle all US federal, state and local claims – taking its total bill for the tragedy so far to £35.1bn.

Even with this charge stripped out, BP posted sharply lower half-year underlying replacement cost profits of £2.5bn against £4.4bn a year earlier.