4 August 2026
If you are covering BP's latest financial results, please find below a comment from Maurizio Carulli, global energy analyst at Quilter Cheviot:
"BP’s second quarter results were both positive and better than expectations at all levels, and is reflected in today’s better share price performance comparative to Shell. Strong performance in earnings and cashflow, both year-on-year and in the previous quarter, for both upstream and downstream, has allowed the company to help reduce its net debt further.
"The company has been executing on its strategic reset and has recently made progress with the sale of their Austrian retail business, the agreement to bring partners into the Kirkuk oil and gas fields in Iraq, and the well covered launch of the process to market their North Sea business as well as of Archaea Energy.
"CEO Meg O’Neil has also issued a very frank, yet welcomed, statement about the need to continue to refocus the company, streamline processes and activities and strengthening the balance sheet. BP needs to continue with its plan to simplify its portfolio of assets, as well as invest with greater discipline and hardwiring high-performance and accountability throughout the business. Meg O’Neil is clearly doing “the right thing” and investors will likely recognise this.
"While there are some minor negatives in these results from new guidance for slightly higher capex and minimally lower divestments for the rest of the year, BP continues to right the ship, allowing the business to put some of the noise of recent years behind it."
