Britain’s BP on Tuesday reported a pointy upswing in second-quarter revenue, as vitality supermajors reap large income from greater fossil gas costs amid hostilities between the U.S. and Iran.
The oil big posted underlying alternative price revenue, used as a proxy for internet revenue, of $5.7 billion for the April to June interval. That comfortably beat analyst expectations of $5 billion, in keeping with an LSEG-compiled consensus.
BP’s internet revenue got here in at $2.35 billion over the identical interval final yr and $3.2 billion for the primary three months of 2026.
The outcomes come as oil and gasoline costs have surged amid the sprawling Center East battle. The combating has severely disrupted delivery via the strategically important Strait of Hormuz, a slim maritime choke level that sometimes handles round a fifth of the world’s oil and pure gasoline.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday lashed out at U.S. oil majors Exxon Mobil and Chevron for making “an excessive amount of cash” off greater gas costs amid the Iran struggle, reiterating his demand for decrease costs on the pump.
“They’re making an excessive amount of cash based mostly on a scarcity,” Trump instructed reporters on the White Home. “I do not prefer it.”
Exxon’s second-quarter income greater than doubled to $14.5 billion in comparison with a yr in the past, whereas Chevron’s earnings soared by practically 400% to $12 billion in comparison with $2.5 billion in the identical interval final yr. CNBC has reached out to Exxon and Chevron for remark.
Key highlights from Q2:
- BP elevated its dividend by 4% to eight.66 cents per peculiar share for the second quarter.
- Working money circulate got here in at $10.9 billion after making an allowance for a $1 billion adjusted working capital construct.
- Internet debt got here in at $22.25 billion on the finish of the second quarter, down from $25.3 billion on the finish of March.
BP CEO Meg O’Neill mentioned the second-quarter outcomes have been underpinned by a robust efficiency throughout the group and responded to Trump’s criticism of Massive Oil.
“Look, I perceive the stress that the peculiar family feels once they pull into the service station to refill and see the costs. The fact is we produce a world commodity and the costs for the product we promote hangs off that world commodity value,” O’Neill instructed CNBC’s “Squawk Field Europe” on Tuesday.
“What BP is doing is ensuring that we’re centered on the issues we are able to do to attempt to assist handle the state of affairs. We’re driving laborious on reliability, each on our upstream belongings the place we produce these barrels and the refining belongings the place we refine them.”
O’Neill mentioned the corporate had made changes to how the agency’s refining runs are set as much as maximize the supply of merchandise customers most want at any cut-off date, citing jet gas and diesel for instance.
Analysts at Citi mentioned BP’s important quarter-on-quarter discount in internet debt means the corporate has now misplaced its undesirable place because the highest-levered of the worldwide oil firms, with additional reductions anticipated within the second half of the yr.
“The scrapping of share buybacks at 4Q outcomes undoubtedly a key contributor; the choice to boost dividends by 4% a partial acknowledgement of the improved monetary energy,” the analysts mentioned in a analysis notice.
Simplification push
BP mentioned Tuesday it had launched the method to market Archaea Power for a possible sale. The corporate had purchased the U.S. biogas enterprise for $4.1 billion in 2022 because it sought to develop its renewables enterprise, a technique it scrapped in early 2025.
BP has been pushing forward with its simplification drive because it doubles down on its core enterprise mannequin of oil and gasoline and divests non-core belongings to cut back debt.
The corporate mentioned Monday that it had accomplished the sale of its Gelsenkirchen refinery and associated companies to funding agency Klesch Group, in a deal anticipated to decrease the oil big’s underlying working expenditure by round $1 billion.
Shares of BP year-to-date.
BP can be in search of to stabilize its administration staff after a turbulent interval of government turnover. The London-listed agency abruptly eliminated its chairman Albert Manifold in Could after simply eight months on the job. The board cited “critical considerations” associated to governance requirements, oversight and conduct, whereas Manifold has disputed the allegations.
Shares of BP traded 0.8% greater on Tuesday morning. The inventory has climbed greater than 27% year-to-date.
