BP profits dip 62% on falling oil prices

British oil major BP yesterday reported a 62-percent slide in first-quarter net profits to $2.387 billion (Dh8.767bn), as the price of crude halved.

The data excludes changes in the value of oil held in stock, a key measure for the industry, and compared to net profit totalling $6.231bn in the first quarter of 2008.

Production for the quarter rose 2.6 per cent to $4.016bn of oil and gas, compared to a year earlier, BP added in an earnings statement.

BP saw its profits plunge as the price of crude oil tumbled from more than $100 a barrel in the first quarter of 2008 to below $50 a year later as the global economic slump sharply reduced demand for energy. BP said group sales slumped by 46 per cent to $47.296 billion in the first quarter.

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