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Shares in BP PLC rose on Tuesday as the oil major rewarded shareholders with a higher dividend and announced plans for further share buybacks. Share in the London-based oil major were up 2.8% to 465.85 pence in London on Tuesday morning. The wider FTSE 100 index was down 0.5%. BP said second-quarter total revenue fell 2.5% to $48.25 billion from $49.48 billion a year prior. Pretax profit fell 64% to $1.25 billion from $3.49 billion. However, underlying replacement cost profit rose 6.5% to $2.76 billion from $2.59 billion, beating a Reuters-cited analyst forecast of $2.54 billion. Underlying RC profit per share rose 12% to 16.61 cents from 14.77 cents. Underlying RC profit reflected an ‘average’ gas marketing and trading result, ‘significantly lower’ refining margins, stronger fuels margins and lower taxation, BP said. BP upped its dividend by 10% to 8.00 cents per share from 7.27 cents and announced a further $1.75 billion share buyback for the quarter. This delivered on a commitment to announce $3.5 billion in buybacks for the first half of 2024. BP intends to announce a further $3.5 billion share buyback for the second half of 2024 as well. Looking ahead, BP plans buybacks of at least $14 billion through 2025 as part of a commitment, returning at least 80% of surplus cash flow to shareholders. For the third quarter, BP expects weaker Upstream output than what it achieved in the second, but still expects ‘slightly’ stronger production for the whole of 2024 compared to 2023. For 2024 as a whole, BP continues to expect both reported and underlying upstream production to be slightly higher compared with 2023. Within this, BP continues to expect underlying production from oil production & operations to be higher and production from gas & low carbon energy to be lower. BP continues to expect divestment and other proceeds of $2 billion to $3 billion in 2024, weighted towards the second half. BP Chief Executive Murray Auchincloss said: ‘We are driving focus across the business and reducing costs, all while building momentum in our drive to 2025.’ Copyright 2024 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights reserved.
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