{"text":[[{"start":5.44,"text":"BP’s profits surged last quarter to a new record after the Middle East energy shock delivered a windfall to the UK oil and gas major."}],[{"start":14.384,"text":"The company on Friday reported that adjusted profits nearly quadrupled year-on-year to $8.5bn, far ahead of $7.3bn forecast by analysts. BP’s recent previous highest profit came in 2022, after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine triggered an energy crisis in Europe."}],[{"start":34.056,"text":"The windfall has helped the company cut its net debt by more than $10bn, or over 45 per cent, since Meg O’Neill took over as chief executive of the UK oil major in April."}],[{"start":45.008,"text":"On Friday, BP said its net debt had fallen to $13.9bn and that it had also met its cost-reduction targets, adding that it would now focus on paying off its remaining liabilities from the Deepwater Horizon disaster."}],[{"start":58.562,"text":"“We continue to be more levered than our peers,” said O’Neill. “We need to be competitive in all environments,” she added, pointing to the prospect that oil prices would eventually drop."}],[{"start":68.24,"text":"O’Neill has prioritised cutting BP’s huge debt pile and strengthening the company’s balance sheet. She has also started to reshape BP’s business, restructuring it into two divisions, one focused on oil and gas production and the other on refining and sales. She has put BP’s oil and gas fields in the UK’s North Sea and its $4bn biogas business in the US up for sale."}],[{"start":91.744,"text":"The UK oil major’s net debt stood at $25.3bn at the end of the first quarter and the company had previously aimed to reduce it to between $14bn and $18bn by the end of next year. Having hit its target early, BP will now set out a new strategy in December."}],[{"start":109.76,"text":"BP’s results follow bumper earnings at European rivals Shell, TotalEnergies, Eni and Repsol, which have increased shareholder payouts as the industry enjoys its strongest profits since the energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In 2008, BP reported a $10bn profit using different accounting measures."}],[{"start":129.76,"text":"BP suspended its share buyback programme in February, before the Iran war began, as it sought to shore up its balance sheet."}],[{"start":140.24,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1793348752_3162.mp3"}