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Aug. 1 (UPI) -- Following trends set by its U.S. peers, British energy company BP on Tuesday reported a hefty slump in second quarter earnings as business segments buckled under the low-price scenario that prevailed during the first half of the year. BP on Tuesday reported earnings of nearly $2.6 billion during the three-month period to June, compared to $8.4 billion during the same period last year.
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"Our underlying performance was resilient with good cash delivery -- during a period of significant turnaround activity and weaker margins in our refining business," CEO Bernard Looney said.
His statements mirrored those from Chevron and ExxonMobil, which on Friday reported steep declines in quarterly revenue relative to year-ago levels.
Chevron's second-quarter earnings of $6 billion were nearly half that from year-ago levels, which it attributed to lower sale price for its products and weaker refinery margins, which reflects the difference between crude oil prices and the wholesale price of refined petroleum products such as diesel and gasoline.
Exxon reported earnings of $7.9 billion, compared to $17.9 billion during the same period last year.
"Lower natural gas realizations and industry refining margins adversely impacted earnings," the company added.
Global markets struggling to find replacements for sanctions-strapped Russian oil and gas last year caused a dramatic spike in commodities. The price for Brent crude oil, the global benchmark for the price of oil, topped $123 per barrel last year and, while rallying recently, stands at around $84 per barrel.
But even with the deep hit to its revenue stream, BP continued to focus on returning any value to its shareholders.
"Our resilient performance, strategic progress and outlook for cash flow is reflected in a quarterly dividend increase of 10% and a further $1.5 billion share buyback," the company stated.
Energy companies have come under fire for returning value to shareholders rather than investing in new production and new technologies, particularly amid concerns about a supply-side deficit in the second half of the year and during a pivot to cleaner forms of energy.
"A resilient dividend is BP's first priority within its disciplined financial frame," the company stated.
Elsewhere, the company pointed to progress on the energy transition with the rights to develop two offshore wind facilities offshore Germany with a potential capacity of 4 gigawatts of energy capacity. On conventional energy, it started production at the Mad Dog 2 prospect, its first Gulf of Mexico operation since before the Deepwater Horizon tragedy.
