Energy giant BP has said its first-quarter net profits leapt 17% from a year earlier to $7.1 billion (€4.9 billion) as oil prices surged, one year after being hit by the US oil disaster.
BP added in a results statement that last year's devastating Gulf of Mexico spill would cost it $41.3 billion. That compared with the previous estimate of $40.9 billion.
Owing to the increased charge, BP's adjusted profits - which also strip out the impact of changes in the value of inventories - fell by 2% to $5.5 billion in the first quarter.
Group sales rose by almost 19% to $88.3 billion, with revenue lifted by asset sales. But total oil and gas production declined by 11% to 3.58 million barrels per day in the reporting period.
World oil prices surged in the first three months of this year, boosted by simmering tensions and violent unrest in the crude-producing Middle East and North Africa region. But the market remains significantly below record high prices of above $147 per barrel which were reached in July 2008.
In 2010, crisis-hit BP had reported its first annual loss in almost two decades as a result of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster.
BP suffered a shortfall of $4.9 billion last year, which was the first loss since 1992 and compared with a profit of $13.96 billion in 2009.
