BP set for oil boost amid £740 million write-down

BP has flagged a boost to oil trading but warned over a £740 million write-down amid Middle East concerns.

The FTSE 100 giant says its oil trading result is set to be “slightly higher” than the first quarter, when its wider customers and products division saw profits surge to £1.87 billion.

This compared with £1.04 billion in the previous quarter and £77.1 million a year ago.

However, BP said it is bracing for an impairment charge of £740 million from “transition businesses” as it continues to shift back towards core oil and gas.

The write-down, which will be excluded from its underlying replacement cost profit for the April to June quarter, follows a similar charge of £3.74 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025 on the so-called transitions businesses in the gas and low carbon energy unit.

Its update, ahead of second quarter results on August 4, also showed BP expects upstream production to fall to between 2.17 million and 2.22 million barrels of oil equivalent per day from 2.34 million in the first quarter, which it said reflects seasonal maintenance and “the effects of disruption in the Middle East”.

Oil prices had returned to pre-war levels in June after an interim peace deal was signed by the US and Iran, with the countries declaring the Strait of Hormuz to be reopened.

But the strait – through which a fifth of the world’s oil and gas is normally carried – continues to be a key issue in fraught peace negotiations, and its closure has sent energy costs spiking higher.

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