BP has posted a 71 per cent increase in underlying profits and highlighted the contribution made by giant field developments in areas such as West of Shetland.
The oil and gas giant made $2.6 billion (£1.9bn) profit net of one-offs in the first three months compared with $1.5bn in the preceding year.
The results provide further evidence of the boost that the increase in oil prices in recent months has provided for the majors.
Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron last week reported they had increased first quarter profits by 42% and 36% respectively.
Read more: Shell boss hails fantastic performance of North Sea business
Led by chief executive Bob Dudley, BP said the growth in profits was mainly due to an improvement in the performance of its upstream exploration and production division.
This produced its best figures since the third quarter of 2014, when oil was selling for more than $100 a barrel.
BP got an average $61.4 per barrel of oil in the first quarter against $49.87 in the same period of 2017.
Crude sold for less than $30 early in 2016 before major exporters agreed later that year to cut production to support the market.
BP’s chief financial officer Brian Gilvary noted: “The results definitely benefit from a higher oil price.” But he added: “Actually, it’s more about the seven projects that we brought onstream; there’s six more that we’re bringing onstream this year.”
Major starts ups last year included the redevelopment of the Schiehallion and Loyal fields West of Shetland, through the Quad 204 project.
Read more: First oil recovered from redeveloped Schiehallion field
This year’s are expected to include the Clair Ridge development West of Shetland, scheduled to come onstream in the second half.
BP expects to achieve good returns from the West of Shetland projects although they were approved before the crude price peaked at $115/bbl in June 2014.
The scale of the fields allows BP to produce from them at a relatively low cost per barrel using modern technology.
The company provided signs in the first quarter that it had regained its enthusiasm for investing in the North Sea, after retrenching in the area in response to the sharp fall in the crude price from 2014.
BP sold off a raft of assets it deemed non core and axed around 600 jobs.
In February BP approved plans to develop the Alligin and Vorlich fields off Scotland.
Read more: BP announces new North Sea developments as oil price rises
It referred to these in the section on strategic progress in yesterday’s results announcement.
The company generated excitement in the industry in January when it said it had made two North Sea finds and expected to double production in the area to 200,000 barrels daily by 2020.
It did not comment on the finds yesterday.
Mr Gilvary made clear the increase in the oil price had not persuaded BP to loosen the purse strings, noting:“We’re going to stick with capital discipline. We’re not going to go chasing higher oil prices and look for more projects.”
The company wants to reduce debt and to increase payouts to shareholders.
BP has returned $460m to shareholders through share buy backs since restarting its programme in the last quarter of 2017. It held the first quarter dividend at 10 cents.
The costs of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill rose by $206m in the first quarter to $66bn. BP shares closed up 9.7p at 547.7p.
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