BP earns nearly $14B in profit in 2023

Oil and natural gas giant BP beat expectations on Tuesday with earnings of $3 billion in the last three months of 2023, bringing last year's total to half its record 2022 profit as energy prices have fallen since spiking after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Report informs, citing foreign media sources.

London-based BP reported its underlying replacement cost profit, which excludes one-time items and fluctuations in the value of inventories, was down from $3.3 billion in the previous quarter.

It brought in $13.8 billion for all of last year, a huge drop from the $27.7 billion it earned in 2022 when Russia's war in Ukraine sent oil and natural gas prices surging. Those prices drove inflation and contributed to a cost-of-living crisis, drawing outrage from consumers facing higher utility bills while energy companies recorded explosive growth in their bottom lines.

Capital expenditure in 2023 was unchanged from a year earlier at $16.3 billion and is expected to dip to $16 billion this year and next.

BP generated more than $32 billion of cash last year, compared with $41 billion in 2022. It reduced net debt to $20.9 billion by year-end, the lowest in a decade, from $21.4 billion 12 months earlier.