Oil giant suffers £2.7bn loss

Oil giant BP swung to a 4.2 billion US dollar (£2.7 billion) loss in the first six months of the year after taking another 9.8 billion dollar (£6.3 billion) hit from its Deepwater Horizon disaster and oil prices continued to plunge.
By The Newsroom
Published 28th Jul 2015, 09:25 BST
A BP petrol station Photo: Nick Ansell/PA WireA BP petrol station Photo: Nick Ansell/PA Wire
A BP petrol station Photo: Nick Ansell/PA Wire

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 6.3 billion dollars (£4 billion).

BP reached an 18.7 billion dollar (£12 billion) 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 54.6 billion dollars (£35.1 billion).

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Even with this charge stripped out, BP posted sharply lower half-year underlying replacement cost profits of 3.9 billion dollars (£2.5 billion) against 6.9 billion dollars (£4.4 billion) a year earlier as it suffered amid falling global oil prices.