Big Oil wins again! BP says 2Q profit up 28 percent.

[jefferson_dem]

BP says 2Q profit up 28 percent
By JANE WARDELL, AP Business Writer
Tue Jul 29, 6:49 AM ET

LONDON - BP PLC reported a 28 percent rise in second-quarter profit on Tuesday, exceeding analyst expectations, as crude oil soared to record levels and natural gas also made big gains.

BP, Europe's second biggest oil producer behind Royal Dutch Shell PLC, posted profit of $9.47 billion for the three months ending June 30, up from $7.38 billion in the same period a year ago. Revenue jumped 49 percent to $110.98 billion as the price of a barrel of oil rose by around 35 percent over the quarter.

Profit would have been even higher without changes imposed by accounting rules, prompting unions to renew calls for a windfall tax on the profits of both BP and Shell.

"These are another set of exceptionally strong numbers, echoing the first quarter performance," said Hargreaves Lansdown stockbroker David Hunter. "Given the tailwind of historically high energy prices, this is somewhat to be expected, although such a strong successive quarterly performance could signal a marked turnaround in the group's fortunes."

BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward has made operational improvements his priority since he took over the top job over a year ago.

Hayward, who replaced John Browne, has focused on bringing new production and refining capacity on line to improve earnings, which have lagged behind rivals such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and Shell.

The company's closely watched replacement cost profit jumped 5.5 percent to $6.85 billion, from $6.49 billion.

The replacement cost figure is viewed by many analysts as the best measure of an oil company's underlying performance because it excludes changes in the value of crude inventories, measuring the amount it would cost to replace assets at current prices.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080729/ap_on_bi_ge/earns_bp

[cliffordu]

1. See??? THIS is why we have to drill all those NEW places.

:sarcasm: