BP profits lower than expected as oil and gas market eases

Results are company’s first since shock exit of its chief executive Bernard Looney last month

BP has come under growing pressure from green groups since the company watered down its climate targets at the same time as announcing that annual profits more than doubled to $28bn (€26.3bn) for 2022.

BP has reported weaker-than-expected profits of $3.3bn (€3.1bn) for the third quarter of this year amid lower global energy market prices and a slump in its gas trading business.

The company said its profits halved in the three months to September after it made bumper profits of $8.2bn (€7.7bn) in the same months last year when oil and gas prices soared after Russia invaded Ukraine.