Covid-19 crisis: BP reports first loss in a decade after ‘brutal’ year

BP plunged to a $5.7 billion loss last year, its first in a decade, as the pandemic took a heavy toll on oil demand, with fuel consumption continuing to slide so far this year amid global travel restrictions.

For the last quarter of 2020, BP reported a profit of $115 million, falling short of analysts’ forecasts due to weak oil and gas sales and subdued trading, it said on Tuesday. “These results reflect a truly tough quarter,” CFO Murray Auchincloss said in a statement.

“We expect renewed Covid-19 restrictions to have a greater impact on product demand, with January retail volumes down by around 20 per cent year on year, compared with a decline of 11 per cent in the fourth quarter,” BP said.