British energy giant BP has reported that its second quarter net profit fell 53% to $4.39 billion even as daily output increased 4%.
Stripping out oil inventories held, second quarter net profit was also down 53% to $3.14 billion.
For the six months to June, this measure of earnings fell 57% to $5.53 billion.
Capital spending in the three months to June was $4.8 billion and $9.4 billion for the six-month period, and should be less than $20 billion for the full year, BP said.
BP added that production of oil and gas rose 4% in the quarter compared to the same period of 2008, to 4.0 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, as new fields ramped up.
BP is the first of the top tier of Western oil companies, known as the five Supermajors, to report their second quarter results.
