BP edges down forecasts after storm

Oil giant BP today edged down its forecasts for oil and gas production after being blown off course by tropical storm Isidore.

The group had to shut down production in some of its oil and gas fields due to the storm, which caused havoc in Mexico, killing two people and leaving 300,000 homeless.

BP today said oil and gas production in the three months to September 30 was up around 4% on the same period the previous year – below the 5% previously expected.

This was “primarily” due to Isidore but also due to a number of operational difficulties in the North Sea and North America.

And it cautioned that production in the fourth quarter could be affected if the hurricanes continued or if there was a mild winter in the US and Europe.

Oil and gas growth for the year is now expected to be 4%, which is lower than previously expected.

BP also said third quarter profits from its gas marketing arm were expected to be “substantially down” compared with the second quarter.

This was partly due to a shutdown of the UK Interconnector – a gas pipeline between Norfolk and Belgium which takes gas to the continent – and sale of its stake in Ruhrgas, Germany’s largest gas company.

However, BP said new projects continued to come on stream broadly as planned.

And despite the lower production, the group added it remained on track to deliver $1.4bn (€2.23bn) in underlying pre-tax profits improvement this year.

A spokeswoman said the storm impact was not financially material to the group’s results because of actions it was taking elsewhere.

In July, the group reported a 47% slide in half-year profits after the impact of sharply lower oil and gas prices hurt figures.

Shares in the group edged down 2p to 433.5p following the update.