BP oil reserves overestimated

Europe’s largest oil company BP said an annual filing with US regulators estimated the company’s proven oil and gas reserves to be 0.1% higher than those presented in its March annual report.

The 2003 estimate rose by 23 million barrels to 18.36 billion, London-based BP said in a Regulatory News Service statement. BP said it has received comments from the Securities and Exchange Commission on its 2002 filing, and talks with the regulator are still under way regarding that document.

Oil and gas reserve estimates are under more scrutiny after Royal Dutch/Shell Group in January stunned investors by saying it overstated its proved reserves by a fifth.