BP's Profit Tops $5 Billion as Oil Prices Surge
August 4, 2026
BP's second-quarter profit more than doubled to $5.73 billion on higher oil and gas prices and strong refining margins, it reported on Tuesday, as CEO Meg O'Neill outlined the energy group's priorities.
Oil majors have benefited this year from market volatility caused by the U.S.-Iran conflict, which has disrupted energy flows and tightened global supplies.
BP's second-quarter underlying replacement cost profit, its version of net income, beat expectations of $5.11 billion in a company-provided poll of analysts and rose from $2.35 billion a year earlier. It said it would increase its dividend by 4% to 8.66 cents per ordinary share for the second quarter.
The group also said it had launched processes to sell its U.S. biogas business Archaea as it continues to reduce its renewables investments to focus on oil and gas.
It bought Archaea in 2022 for $4.1 billion as part of an aggressive expansion in renewables - a strategy it abandoned in 2025. It has written off billions from its low-carbon businesses in recent months.
In recent weeks, BP has also completed the sale of its Gelsenkirchen refinery, agreed to sell its retail business in Austria and announced its intention to sell its UK North Sea business.
O'Neill, who took over as CEO in April, outlined on Tuesday five priorities for BP: further strengthening the balance sheet, simplifying the portfolio, tightening investment discipline, improving operational performance, and creating structures that enable faster decision-making and greater accountability.
"We are not making the most of our potential," O'Neill said. "Our performance over the past few years has not met our own expectations, let alone those of our shareholders. We have not delivered consistently; we have written off too much value; and our costs and liabilities are not resilient enough in a low price environment."
BP expects capital expenditure in 2026 to be $13.5 billion to $14 billion, reflecting a decision to delay asset farm-downs and capture better value. Previous guidance was $13 billion to $13.5 billion.
In the second quarter, net profit was the highest for any quarter since the third quarter 2022 and profits across BP businesses beat expectations. Pre-tax profit at its customers and products unit, which includes BP's huge oil trading desk, was $4.95 billion, above the average estimate in a BP-provided analyst poll of $4.46 billion and $1.53 billion a year ago.
(Reuters - Reporting by Stephanie Kelly and Shadia Nasralla; Editing by Louise Heavens and Susan Fenton)
