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Oil price slide bites BP, suffers $6.5 bn loss in 2015
February 2, 2016, 9:01 am

The company’s debt level is rising and BP was among several major oil producers given a negative credit outlook by Standard & Poor’s on Monday [Xinhua]

The company’s debt level is rising and BP was among several major oil producers given a negative credit outlook by Standard & Poor’s on Monday [Xinhua]

British Petroleum reported results for 2015 on Tuesday that show the impact of the dramatic fall in oil prices with the London-based company hit by a 91 per cent decline in fourth-quarter earnings.

BP suffered a loss after taxation of $6.48 billion (5.97 billion euros) last year, compared with a net profit of $3.78 billion in 2014, it said in a results statement.

UK daily The Independent quoted a BP spokesperson last month saying the company “does not expect to be paying corporation tax in the UK until there is a recovery in the oil price”.

The company’s debt level is rising.

Annual earnings were hit by a $2.6-billion charge in the fourth quarter. BP plans to axe 4,000 jobs this year in its upstream division, and up to 3,000 positions in its downstream business by the end of 2017.

“BP took $2.6 billion in non-operating post-tax charges in the fourth quarter, primarily related to impairments of Upstream assets as well as restructuring charges for the Group. Including these charges and other offsetting effects, BP reported a replacement cost loss for the fourth quarter of 2015 of $2.2 billion,” a statement posted on its website said.

Underlying replacement cost profit for the full year was $5.9 billion, compared with $12.1 billion reported for 2014, down 51 per cent, BP reported.

“The lower underlying result was predominantly driven by the impact of steeply lower oil and gas prices on BP’s Upstream segment, which reported a pre-tax loss for the quarter,” the company said.

On Monday, BP was given a negative credit outlook by Standard & Poor’s.

 

TBP