BP posts lower profit than last year, but increase on Q1 2025

British oil and gas group BP saw profits fall in the second quarter of this year compared to last year. Like other oil and gas companies, the company struggled with large oil and gas price fluctuations in the recent period. However, it did show an increase compared to the first quarter of 2025.

BP again bought back $750 million worth of its own shares, despite a drop in profits in the current quarter. The oil group posted a profit of almost $2.4 billion, down 15 per cent from a year earlier. Still, the result was not too bad: analysts were counting on a profit of around $1.8 billion. In addition, the profit is also significantly higher than in the first months of 2025, when it was $1.4 billion. At rival Shell, which announced its quarterly figures last week, profits also fell less sharply than expected beforehand.

Under fire

BP has long been under fire from shareholder Elliot, who insists on better financial results. This investor, which owns five per cent of the shares, wants BP to cut costs sharply and sell business units to strengthen its future as an independent group.

According to BP, costs were cut by $900 million in the first half of this year. This brings total savings so far to $1.7 billion. The goal is to reduce costs by $4 billion to $5 billion by the end of 2027. The sale of parts already yielded about $3 billion this year.

Speculation takeover talks

There was speculation recently that Shell was holding takeover talks with BP. However, Shell denied this. Last week, Shell chief Wael Sawan said he preferred to focus on its own business and that at the moment “nothing is cheap”. A merger of the two British oil groups has been rumoured from time to time for decades.

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