UK supermajor BP posted a profit during the second quarter of the year despite a dip in revenue.

The company posted a profit of $2.1 billion for the second quarter of the year, recovering from a loss of nearly $1.5 billion during the same period last year.

It should be noted however that last year’s second quarter result was affected by $4.8 billion in impairments mainly related to certain refineries and shale gas assets in the US, as well as the decision to suspend the Liberty project in Alaska.

Underlying replacement cost profit for the second quarter of 2013 was $2.7 billion, compared to $3.6 billion in the second quarter of 2012.

BP said its underlying replacement cost profit during the recent quarter was affected by lower oil prices and an unusually high underlying effective tax rate of 45%, compared to 35% a year earlier, largely due to the impact of the stronger dollar on a basket of currencies.

It also blamed lower post-tax income from Russia, which it said was driven by rouble depreciation and the lagging effect of Russian oil export duty.

Revenue during the quarter was also down year-on-year, with the company generating $95.7 billion during the the three months to 30 June, compared to $96.4 billion during the same period a year earlier.

Hitting revenue was a 1.5% fall in production which averaged 2.2 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, compared to nearly 2.3 million boed last year.

New major project volumes in Angola, the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, as well as improved performance from its operations in Trinidad, were offset by divestments and partly by by underlying base decline.

BP warned that it expected output during the third quarter to be even lower due to planned major turnaround activity and repairs in the high-margin North Sea, planned maintenance in Alaska and the continuing affect of its divestment programme.

However it added that declines would be partly offset by continued project ramp ups in the Asia Pacific region.

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