- guardian.co.uk,
- Tuesday October 28 2008 18.30 GMT
Oil giant BP has reaped the benefits of this summer’s record oil prices, smashing all forecasts with a 148% rise in third-quarter profits.
The figures are likely to spark fresh protests from motorists and businesses that have been hit hard by higher petrol prices.
The shares rose 24.25p to 461.5p today, a gain of 5.55%. BP said it would pay a dividend of 14 cents a share in December, up some 30% in dollar terms from a year ago and 60% higher in sterling terms.
“Although it has since fallen away sharply, the high oil price of the third quarter obviously helped our absolute result,” said BP’s chief executive, Tony Hayward.
Oil surged to a record high of $147 a barrel in July, but the price has since more than halved amid mounting fears of a global recession. Today the price of crude rose to $64 a barrel.
BP, Europe’s second-biggest oil producer behind Royal Dutch Shell, posted replacement cost profits of $10bn (£6bn) for the quarter from July to September, up from $4bn a year earlier. Replacement cost profit is a measure often used by oil companies and is calculated using the cost of replacing supplies at current prices, rather than the prices at which they were bought.
Revenues climbed 45% from $71bn to $103bn over the quarter.
“We are well-placed to weather the prevailing financial storm and to benefit from the business opportunities that may well arise from a downturn,” Hayward said. “Our balance sheet is strong and we have committed less of our portfolio to high-cost options like tar sands and gas conversion than some of our peers.”
Analysts were worried about the impact of the recent fall in oil prices on BP, but noted that the company had made good progress on restructuring its crude-processing division, which has underperformed rivals in recent years.
“In refining and marketing they have a restructuring plan under way and that looks as if it has helped the results there,” said oil analyst Tony Shepard at brokerage Charles Stanley.
The oil firm, which expects to spend up to $22bn on capital investment this year, counts pension funds among its major shareholders.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
MORE DETAILS:
A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
