BP hit by oil glut

BP reported Tuesday its second-quarter earnings fell by 45 percent as lower oil prices hit the British energy company.

The firm said its net loss amounted to $1.4 billion (1.3 billion euros) for the three months to June.

Oil companies have rushed to cut costs and curtail investment after prices tanked last year, but BP's bottom line was affected by the repercussions of a devastating oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico back in 2010.

Better times ahead?

BP had to take a pre-tax charge of $5.2 billion in the second quarter for costs related to the Deepwater Horizon incident.

Earlier this month, the company said it estimated the final pre-tax costs of the disaster at $61.6 billion, including fines, litigation, and environmental costs.

Despite the burden at hand, BP said its outlook was optimistic.

"As we look forward we expect the external environment to remain challenging, but we have a strong pipeline of new projects which will add 500,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day of new production capacity by the end of next year," said BP Group CEO Bob Dudley.

"Beyond this lie further opportunities, including a number which we expect to deliver through innovative structures such as the recently announced Aker BP venture. We are delivering significant improvements to the business that will stick at any oil price," he added.

hg/sri (AFP, AP)