Oil giant BP slumps to $5.2bn annual loss as barrel prices slide

BP has announced thousands of fresh job cuts as it slumped to a £3.6bn ($5.2bn) annual loss for 2015 amid an oil price slump. The loss compares to a profit of £5.6bn ($8.1bn) for 2014. Brent crude has dipped to around $30 a barrel having topped $115 in the summer of 2014. BP’s profits were weighed down by the ongoing cost of the deadly Gulf of Mexico oil well blast in 2010 which accounted for £8.1bn ($11.7bn) over the course of 2015. The total charge for this now stands at £38.6bn ($55.5bn).

We are continuing to move rapidly to adapt and rebalance BP for the changing environment.

Chief executive Bob Dudley

BP said it would cut 3,000 jobs in its downstream unit by the end of 2017 on top of 4,000 cuts already announced in oil and gas production as part of a $2.5 billion restructuring program announced last year. As a rule, every $1 change in Brent crude oil prices impacts pre-tax replacement cost operating profit by $300 million, according to BP. On an underlying basis, annual earnings still fell by more than half, to £4.1bn ($5.9bn).

BP