BP said July 29 its net profit rallied by 28% to $9.47 billion in the second quarter as oil prices surged to record highs. BP's revenue soared by 49% percent to $111 billion in the three months to June 30 compared with a year earlier as gas prices also surged, but production was flat at 3.83 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.
At a press conference to discuss the results, chief executive Tony Hayward also vowed to defend BP's rights in the face of "intimidation" and "strong-arm tactics" from Moscow regarding the Anglo-Russian joint venture TNK-BP. BP, the world's third biggest energy group, last week said it had recalled all 148 staff sent to Russia to work for TNK-BP amid ongoing Russian attempts to end foreign control of major energy assets.
BP added that net profit, excluding gains from the value of its crude oil inventories, grew 6% to $6.85 billion in the second quarter.
BP, Europe's second largest oil company, added that its share of net profit at TNK-BP almost doubled to $1.35 billion in the second quarter from $686 million one year earlier.
Kremlin adviser Arkady Dvorkovich on Monday rejected charges of political interference in the activities of TNK-BP and said the company's activities were not in danger. However on July 29, Hayward said Russian investors in the joint venture wanted to tear up the agreement they had "willingly signed" in 2003.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2008
