LONDON – BP PLC reported Tuesday that third-quarter profits more than doubled thanks to higher oil prices, with the chief executive saying the results marked a turnaround from the disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
BP also announced that it now aims to dispose of $45 billion in assets, up from the $30 billion it originally set to raise money to pay for damage from the blowout on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on April 20 last year. Eleven rig workers were killed in the explosion and fire.
For the three months ending Sept. 30, BP had a net profit of $4.9 billion, compared with $1.8 billion a year earlier.
Revenue rose 31 percent to $97.6 billion. Brent crude averaged $112 a barrel in the third quarter, up from $77 per barrel a year earlier.
Investors welcomed the figure and bid BP shares up 2.2 percent to 447.9 pence in early trading on the London Stock Exchange on Tuesday.
“We have now reached a definite turning point,” Chief Executive Bob Dudley said in a statement accompanying the earnings report.
“Our operations are regaining momentum and we are facing the future with great confidence.”
Tony Shepard, analyst at Charles Stanley Co., said BP “may have turned the
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