Oil major BP hails strong start to 2017

BP is expecting first oil from its North Sea Quad 204 project later this month.

Chief financial officer Brian Gilvary updated on the timeline as the supermajor revealed its first-quarter results, which saw replacement cost profits treble to nearly $1.5 billion, up from $532 million a year earlier.

Mr Gilvary said seven projects previously announced to come on-stream this year would add 800,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2020.

And he said the upstream operations remain “ahead of schedule and 15% under budget”.

The first of the seven, the Trinidad onshore compression project, came on-stream last month.

BP holds a 36% interest in the Columbus Basin focused LNG scheme.

Another three global projects are expected to be online by mid-year – including Quad 204, the £3bn redevelopment of the Schiehallion and Loyal fields in the North Sea.

Quad 204, expected to last to 2035, is in the final stages of commissioning.

“This is an important year of delivery in the upstream, particular with the start up of our suite of major projects,” Mr Gilvary told investors. “We have made a good start to this and have confidence in the plans we have laid out.

“You should see the outcome of this become increasingly visible through this year as production ramps up.

“We will continue to make disciplined capital portfolio choices within our extensive global hopper of resource prospects and we will continue to exit unattractive positions.”

The update from BP came after it revealed last month it had slashed group CEO Bob Dudley’s 2016 pay package by 40% and cut his maximum earnings by $3.7m dollars to see off a fresh shareholder rebellion.

Its annual report showed Mr Dudley’s pay package was cut to $11.6m as the group looked to avoid a repeat of last year’s investor revolt, when almost 60% of BP shareholders voted against his 20% pay hike.

Mr Dudley said the year had started well for the group.

“BP is focused on the disciplined delivery of our plans,” he said.

“First-quarter earnings and cash flow were robust.”

The figures follow impressive earnings reports from US rivals ExxonMobil and Chevron last week as the industry benefits from a partial bounce back in crude prices, which hit near 13-year lows early last year.

BP’s closest rival, Royal Dutch Shell, is also expected to post a leap in profits when it reports tomorrow.

Shares in BP were up more than 1%, or 7.1p to 449.6p.

Picture: PA. BP’s Etap platform in the North Sea.