BP has reported a 45% fall in third-quarter profits to just under $3.9 billion due to lower oil and gas production, problems at its refining division and fewer asset sales, which had boosted the results a year earlier.
BP said replacement cost net profit, which strips out the impact of changes in the value of fuel stocks, included a net loss of $346m related to non-operating items.
BP said production of oil and gas fell 4% to 3.65 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), due to asset sales and natural declines in fields not being matched with new start-ups after key projects were delayed.
Profits at BP's refining division collapsed to $376m from $1.5 billion in the same period last year. BP suffered severe outages at its Whiting and Texas City refineries in the US during the quarter and said earlier this month that refining margins fell in the third quarter compared with the same period last year.
In the third quarter of 2006, BP's results were boosted by around $2 billion in profits from asset sales.
