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BP PLC on Tuesday said it will take a $1 billion impairment charge in the second quarter and expects production to fall partly due to the Middle East conflict. The London-based oil and gas exploration and production company said the charges are primarily attributable to transition businesses in the gas & low carbon energy segment and are excluded from underlying replacement cost profit. BP forecast second-quarter upstream production to fall to between 2.17 million and 2.22 million barrels of oil equivalent per day from 2.34 million in the first quarter, reflecting seasonal maintenance and disruption in the Middle East. Higher oil and gas prices are expected to benefit the gas & low carbon energy segment to the tune of $500 million to $700 million compared to the prior quarter, and the oil production & operations segment by $1.8 billion to $2.1 billion. The gas marketing and trading result is expected to be broadly flat quarter-on-quarter. The customers & products segment is expected to benefit from seasonally higher volumes and higher fuels margins, with products seeing a $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion increase quarter-on-quarter. The oil trading result is expected to be slightly higher compared with the first quarter. The oil major forecasts quarter-end net debt of $22 billion to $23 billion, down from $25.3 billion at the end of the first quarter, despite $2.9 billion of hybrid bond redemptions and $1.1 billion of Gulf of Mexico settlement payments. The underlying effective tax rate for the second quarter is expected to be between 33% and 37%, due to the geographical mix of profits. Second-quarter results, which will include around $500 million of exploration write-offs primarily reflecting the impact of the sale of Bay du Nord in Canada, are due on August 4. Shares in BP on Tuesday were up 2.9% at 519.40 pence each in London on Tuesday. Boosting oil stocks on Tuesday, Brent crude oil was trading at $85.75 a barrel on Tuesday morning, up from $79.42 at the time of the London equity market close on Monday, amid exchanges of military strikes by the US and Iran. Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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