Third quarter 2019 results
Continued strong operating cash flow and strategic delivery
- Financial results
- Underlying replacement cost profit for the third quarter of 2019 was $2.3 billion, compared to $3.8 billion a year earlier. The result was impacted by significantly lower Upstream earnings, resulting from lower prices, maintenance and weather impacts.
- A divestment-related, non-cash, non-operating after-tax charge of $2.6 billion resulted in a reported loss for the quarter of $0.7 billion.
- Operating cash flow, excluding Gulf of Mexico oil spill payments, was $6.5 billion for the quarter, including a $0.1 billion working capital release (after adjusting for net inventory holding losses). Gulf of Mexico oil spill payments were $0.4 billion on a post-tax basis.
- A dividend of 10.25 cents per share was announced for the quarter. Scrip dividend alternative suspended for the third quarter.
- Upstream operations impacted by maintenance and weather, Downstream strong
- Reported oil and gas production for the quarter averaged 3.7 million barrels of oil equivalent a day, compared to 3.6 million barrels of oil equivalent a day a year earlier.
- Underlying Upstream production, excluding Rosneft, was down 2.5% from a year earlier, reflecting maintenance across a number of regions and weather impacts in the US Gulf of Mexico.
- The Downstream delivered strong operations with overall 96% Solomon availability for the quarter, and record crude was processed at the Whiting and Cherry Point refineries in the US.
- Divestments ahead of schedule, Downstream expansion in fast-growing markets
- Following the agreement to sell all BP’s interests in Alaska to Hilcorp Energy, divestment transactions announced in 2019 totalled $7.2 billion at the end of the third quarter. BP expects this to reach around $10 billion by year end.
- In the Downstream, BP continued its strategic delivery in new markets, announcing joint ventures in fuels marketing in India and electric vehicle charging in China.
- In the quarter BP announced that it will deploy continuous measurement of methane emissions on all its future major operated oil and gas processing projects.
Cautionary statement
In order to utilize the ‘safe harbor’ provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the ‘PSLRA’) and the general doctrine of cautionary statements, BP is providing the following cautionary statement: The discussion in this results announcement contains certain forecasts, projections and forward-looking statements - that is, statements related to future, not past events and circumstances - with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and businesses of BP and certain of the plans and objectives of BP with respect to these items. These statements may generally, but not always, be identified by the use of words such as ‘will’, ‘expects’, ‘is expected to’, ‘aims’, ‘should’, ‘may’, ‘objective’, ‘is likely to’, ‘intends’, ‘believes’, ‘anticipates’, ‘plans’, ‘we see’ or similar expressions. In particular, the following, among other statements, are all forward looking in nature: expectations regarding the expected quarterly dividend payment and timing of such payment and the suspension of the scrip dividend alternative and introduction of dividend reinvestment plans; expectations regarding the underlying effective tax rate in 2019; expectations regarding 2019 organic capital expenditure and depreciation, depletion and amortization charges; expectations that net debt levels will trend down over time and that gearing will remain above the target 20-30% range before reducing towards the middle of the range in 2020; expectations regarding share buybacks, including to offset the impact of dilution from the scrip program; plans and expectations relating to divestments and disposals, including that around $10 billion of divestment transactions will be announced by the end of 2019; plans and expectations regarding the announced sale of BP’s interests in Alaska to a subsidiary of Hilcorp Energy, including the completion of the sale and expected timing and proceeds thereof; plans and expectations with respect to the joint venture in India with Reliance Industries Limited; plans and expectations regarding BP’s low-carbon business, including with regard to BP’s joint venture with DiDi to develop an electric vehicle charging network in China and to the installation of 400 ultra-fast chargers at BP Chargemaster’s UK retail sites; plans and expectations to run jointly branded workshop pilots in China and the US with Bosch; plans and expectations regarding BP Infinia; plans to deploy continuous measurement of methane emissions on all future major operated oil and gas processing projects; expectations regarding Upstream fourth-quarter 2019 reported production, seasonal maintenance and turnaround activities; expectations regarding Downstream fourth-quarter 2019 refining margins and turnaround activity; expectations regarding the amount of the Rosneft dividend; plans and expectations regarding Lightsource BP, including to develop a solar facility in Colorado and negotiate power purchase agreements to supply customers across Spain’s Zaragoza province; plans and expectations with respect to the joint venture between BP’s Brazilian biofuels business and Bunge, including the completion of the joint venture transaction and the timing thereof; expectations regarding the Other businesses and corporate 2019 average quarterly charges excluding non-operating items; and expectations with respect to the amount of future payments relating to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will or may occur in the future and are outside the control of BP. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed in such statements, depending on a variety of factors, including: the specific factors identified in the discussions accompanying such forward-looking statements; the receipt of relevant third party and/or regulatory approvals; the timing and level of maintenance and/or turnaround activity; the timing and volume of refinery additions and outages; the timing of bringing new fields onstream; the timing, quantum and nature of certain acquisitions and divestments; future levels of industry product supply, demand and pricing, including supply growth in North America; OPEC quota restrictions; PSA effects; operational and safety problems; potential lapses in product quality; economic and financial market conditions generally or in various countries and regions; political stability and economic growth in relevant areas of the world; changes in laws and governmental regulations; regulatory or legal actions including the types of enforcement action pursued and the nature of remedies sought or imposed; the actions of prosecutors, regulatory authorities and courts; delays in the processes for resolving claims; amounts ultimately payable and timing of payments relating to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill; exchange rate fluctuations; development and use of new technology; recruitment and retention of a skilled workforce; the success or otherwise of partnering; the actions of competitors, trading partners, contractors, subcontractors, creditors, rating agencies and others; our access to future credit resources; business disruption and crisis management; the impact on our reputation of ethical misconduct and non-compliance with regulatory obligations; trading losses; major uninsured losses; decisions by Rosneft’s management and board of directors; the actions of contractors; natural disasters and adverse weather conditions; changes in public expectations and other changes to business conditions; wars and acts of terrorism; cyber-attacks or sabotage; and other factors discussed elsewhere in this report, and under “Risk factors” in BP Annual Report and Form 20-F 2018 as filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.