BP’s troubles have been reflected in falling third quarter profits today when the oil giant said it made 6.23 billion US dollars in the three months to September 30 compared with 6.46 billion US dollars a year earlier. It reflected problems at Prudhoe Bay in Alaska and delays to the opening of the key Thunder Horse platform in the Gulf of Mexico.
BP pumped 3.8 million barrels of oil a day out in July and September – some 8,000 barrels a day less than a year ago when production was devastated by hurricanes which battered its rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. It was also 202,000 barrels below the level reached in the second quarter of this year and underlined the problems facing BP and its chief executive Lord Browne at Prudhoe Bay.
There was also bad news for BP concerning the reopening of Thunder Horse platform in the Gulf of Mexico, put back from 2007 to the middle of 2008 after it was damaged by Hurricane Dennis last year.
These problems have seen shares in BP fall by more than 15 per cent since April. Is the shine beginning to rub off BP’s CEO, Sir John Browne?